Gulf 'dead zone' above average but not near record
Area of low oxygen covers 5,840 square miles of Gulf floor
This summer's "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico, where there's so little oxygen that starfish suffocate, is bigger than average but not the predicted near-record.
Scientists led by Nancy Rabalais of the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium said the area of low oxygen, called hypoxia, covers 5,840 square miles of the Gulf floor.
Scientists had expected a wet spring to bring more nutrients than usual down the Mississippi River, leading to a dead zone of up to 8,561 square miles. The largest dead zone on record was in 2002, when it spread across 8,481 square miles of the Gulf.
Rabalais said temperature and salinity measurements indicate high winds in early to mid-July mixed oxygen into deeper waters.
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