'Dead Zone' off La. coast gets larger (size of Conn. & Rhode Island)

[donsu]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060728/ap_on_sc/dead_zone;_ylt=ArWqDc72ksOs3_nvNHWU6ZkPLBIF;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--


The "Dead Zone" off the Louisiana coast mapped this week is 6,662 square miles — or about the size of Connecticut and Rhode Island combined, Dr. Nancy Rabalais, Chief Scientist for Northern Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia Studies reported on Friday. The low oxygen waters extended from near the Mississippi River to the Louisiana/Texas border.

-snip-

Agricultural runoff in the vast area drained by the Mississippi River contributes most of the nitrogen, phosphorus and other nutrients that feed a population boom of algae. As the algae die, they fall to the bottom. Their decay consumes oxygen faster than currents can bring it down from the surface

-snip-

Turner said his model estimated a size much larger than most people thought would happen. The key factor for predicting a larger dead zone this summer was that the "nitrate loading this May, a critical month influencing the size of the area, is higher than last year, despite the lower river flow" said Turner.
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the lower water flow in the Miss. River is also slowing down shipping

[pooja]

1. and guess what acts as a great buffer that is being reduced at

an alarming rate all along our coasts, the salt water marsh.