The northern Gulf of Mexico dead zone that forms off the coast of Louisiana and Texas each summer was measured by National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) supported scientists during a survey cruise from July 27 to August 2, 2014 and reported on the NOAA website (see below) on August 4, 2014.

Their data indicates that the dead zone for 2014 measures approximately 5,052 square miles.   The dead zone, also called a hypoxia area, is defined as waters having dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations of less than 2 mg/L or 2 parts per million.  The Gulf dead zone is caused by an abundance of nutrients discharged by the Mississippi/Atchafalaya River Basin into the Gulf.  The nutrients create an overgrowth of algae that die and sink to the seafloor to decompose by bacteria that in turn consumes the oxygen in the water that is needed to support life in the Gulf.   The first dead zone appeared in the Gulf of Mexico in 1972 and has been recorded every year since 1972 during the spring and summer months.

The Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed Nutrient (Hypoxia) Task Force was established in 1997 to reduce and control hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico.  Based on their 2008 Gulf Hypoxia Action Plan and guidance from EPA, many states in the basin have established or begun to establish nutrient strategies, instituted legislation and/or established numeric limitations for phosphorus and/or nitrogen that are considered to be the primary nutrients of interest leading to the Gulf dead zone.

You can read more about the research and the causes of the dead zone by navigating to the new releases on the following NOAA websites: http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2014/20140804_deadzone.html and http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2013/2013029_deadzone.html or navigating to the Mississippi River gulf of Mexico Watershed Nutrient Task Force website at the following address: http://water.epa.gov/type/watersheds/named/msbasin/zone.cfm