August 6, 2024 — Following NOAA predictions earlier this summer that the “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico would be larger than average, scientists have now confirmed that those predictions have come true.
Created by excess nutrient pollution along the Mississippi-Atchafalaya watershed, the dead zone in the gulf is a hypoxic area roughly the size of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The low oxygen levels within the area are deadly to fish.