NYT: ‘Dead Zone’ Reappears Off the Oregon Coast

[DeepModem Mom]

‘Dead Zone’ Reappears Off the Oregon Coast
By CORNELIA DEAN
Published: August 6, 2006


(The New York Times)
The zone occupies a space roughly the size of Rhode Island.

For the fifth year in a row, unusual wind patterns off the coast of Oregon have produced a large “dead zone,” an area so low in oxygen that fish and crabs suffocate.

This dead zone is unlike those in the Gulf of Mexico and elsewhere, which result from fertilizer, sewage or runoff from hog or poultry operations carried by rivers. The Oregon zone appears when the wind generates strong currents carrying nutrient-rich but oxygen-poor water from the deep sea to the surface near shore, a process called upwelling.

The nutrients encourage the growth of plankton, which eventually dies and falls to the ocean floor. Bacteria there consume the plankton, using up oxygen.

Jane Lubchenco, a marine biologist at Oregon State University, said the phenomenon did not appear to be linked to recurring El Niño or La Niña currents or to long-term cycles of ocean movements. That made Dr. Lubchenco wonder if climate change might be a factor, she said, adding, “There is no other cause, as far as we can determine.”

The dead zone, which appears in late spring and lasts a matter of weeks, has quadrupled in size since it first appeared in 2002 and this year covers about 1,235 square miles, an area about as large as Rhode Island, Dr. Lubchenco said....

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/06/us/06coast.html

[nam78_two]

1. k&r/nt

[Straight Shooter]

2. I wonder how long it will be until we are *all* in the "dead zone."

:(

[opihimoimoi]

3. 12 Years 3 months 1 week and 4 days....Ice Age will prevent adequate

food production, both natural resources and Agri/Aqua/Etc Farms...

Population too high for existing food production will lead to massive food shortages leading to mass famine.


There will be a lot of mad and angry peeps out there who will blame the GOP and Bush for not addressing this issue despite many serious warnings....