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THANK Don for a smaller-than-expected dead zone. The region of oxygen-poor water in the Gulf of Mexico has been measured at 17,520 square kilometres this year 鈥� smaller than feared following the massive flooding of the Mississippi in April and May.
The river emptied nutrient-rich water into the gulf, causing a brief algal bloom that robbed the sea floor of oxygen when the algae died and decayed. The main reason that the dead zone was relatively small is tropical storm Don, says Nancy Rabalais of the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium in Chauvin. Don churned up the gulf in late July, returning oxygen to deeper waters.
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鈥淭he dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico is relatively small as a tropical storm churned up the water鈥�
That鈥檚 not to say wildlife didn鈥檛 suffer 鈥� animals normally found at the bottom of the ocean were seen surfacing to breathe. 鈥淭he gulf is becoming less resistant to nitrogen pollution,鈥� says Rabalais. 鈥淚t just doesn鈥檛 take as much to aggravate the system as before.鈥�