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HYPOXIA IN THE NORTHERN GULF OF MEXICO: DOES THE SCIENCE SUPPORT THE PLAN TO REDUCE, MITIGATE, AND CONTROL HYPOXIA?
Citation:
RABALAIS, N. N., R. E. TURNER, B. K. SEN GUPTA, D. F. BOSCH, P. CHAPMAN, AND M. C. MURRELL. HYPOXIA IN THE NORTHERN GULF OF MEXICO: DOES THE SCIENCE SUPPORT THE PLAN TO REDUCE, MITIGATE, AND CONTROL HYPOXIA? Estuaries and Coasts. Estuarine Research Federation, Port Republic, MD, 30(5):753-772, (2007).
Impact/Purpose:
Updating information on hypoxia in the Northern Gulf of Mexico.
Description:
We update and reevaluate the scientific information on the distribution, history and causes of continental shelf hypoxia that supports the 2001 "Action Plan for Reducing, Mitigating, and Controlling Hypoxiain the Northern Gulf of Mexico," incorporating data, publications, and research results produced since the 1999 integrated assessment. The metric of mid-summer hypoxic area on the Louisiana/Texas shelf is an adequate and suitable measure for continued efforts to reduce nutrients loads from the Mississippi River and hypoxia in the northern Gulf of Mexico as outlined in the Action Plan. Similar, simple metrics, such as hypoxic water volume or combinations of space and time, would also be suitable for a straightforward public discourse of condition and causes. More frequent measurements of simple metrics (e.g., area and volume) from late spring through late summer, however, would ensure that the metric is representative of the system in any given year. The long-term data of hypoxia, sources of nutrients, associated biological parameters, and paleoindicators continue to strengthen the relationship between the nitrate-N load of the Mississippi River, the extent of hypoxia, and changes in the coastal ecosystem (eutrophication and worsening hypoxia). Multiple lines of evidence, some of them representing independent data sources, are consistent with the "big picture" pattern of increased eutrophication as a result of long-term nutrient increases that result in excess production, carbon accumulation adn ultimately bottom water hypoxia. The additional findings expand our understanding of hypoxia and strengthen the swcience supporting the Action Plan that focuses on reducing nutrient loads, primarily nitrogen, through multiple actions as for the means to reduce hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico.