News release: “A global study led by Virginia Institute of Marine Science Professor Robert Diaz shows that the number of “dead zones”—areas of seafloor with too little oxygen for most marine life—has increased by a third between 1995 and 2007. Diaz and collaborator Rutger Rosenberg of the University of Gothenburg in Sweden say that dead zones are now “the key stressor on marine ecosystems” and “rank with over-fishing, habitat loss, and harmful algal blooms as global environmental problems.”

The study, which appears in the August 15 issue of the journal Science, tallies 405 dead zones in coastal waters worldwide, affecting an area of 95,000 square miles, about the size of New Zealand. The largest dead zone in the U.S., at the mouth of the Mississippi, covers more than 8,500 square miles, roughly the size of New Jersey. A dead zone also underlies much of the main-stem of Chesapeake Bay, each summer occupying about 40% of its area and up to 5% of its volume.”

Web Resources
• Dead Zones in Google Maps
• Dead Zones in Google Earth
• Dead Zones animation (.mov)
• Dissolved Oxygen
• Virginia Estuarine & Coastal Observing System – VECOS
• Gulf Hypoxia (LUMCON)
• Gulf Hypoxia (NOS)