NOAA-supported scientists announced that the Gulf of Mexico’s “dead zone” had expanded to around 6,705 square miles this year, making it the 12th largest zone measured in 38 years.
The area of minimal to no oxygen, where fish and other marine life struggle to survive, covers more than 4 million acres, or nearly the size of New Jersey. The size of the dead zone this year indicates the region’s continued environmental challenges.
Scientists from Louisiana State University and...