Researchers: 2017 Dead Zone in Gulf of Mexico Biggest Ever

Source: VOA
Date: August 7, 2017

The Gulf of Mexico's "dead zone" — the area where there's too little oxygen to support marine life — is the biggest ever measured this year.
墨西哥湾的“死亡地带”范围——含氧量极低，生物在此无法存活——在近日达到了今年的最大值。

The low-oxygen dead zone along the Louisiana and Texas Gulf Coast measured 22,720 square kilometers (8,776 square miles), about the size of the U.S. state of New Jersey.
这片海域从路易斯安那州一直延续到德克萨斯州的墨西哥湾沿海，共计 22,720 平方公里（8,776 平方英里），与新泽西州大小相当。

Scientist Nancy Rabalais found a solid band of water along the Gulf bottom with oxygen levels of less than 2 parts per million stretching from just west of the mouth of the Mississippi River in Louisiana well into the Texas coast area near Houston. Rabalais said the area was likely even larger, but the mapping cruise had to stop before reaching the western edge.
科学家 Nancy Rabalais 发现了连续带状水域，从路易斯安那州的密西西比河入海口以西，一直延伸到德克萨斯州休斯顿附近的海岸。这片墨西哥湾水域底部的氧气含量，低于 2ppm 。Rabalais表示，探测船在抵达水域西侧边界前不得不返航，因此，实际的低氧水域很可能比测量结果更大。

At 8,776 square miles, this year's dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico is the largest ever measured. (Courtesy of N. Rabalais, LSU/LUMCON)

She and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released the latest measurement Wednesday.
上周三，她和美国国家海洋和大气管理局一起，将最新的低氧水域测量结果公之于众。

"The number of dead zones throughout the world has been increasing in the last several decades and currently totals 500," the news release said. "The dead zone off the Louisiana coast is the second-largest human-caused coastal hypoxic area in the global ocean and stretches from the mouth of the Mississippi River into Texas waters and less often, but increasingly more frequent, east of the Mississippi River."
报道表示，“过去数十年间，全球范围内的低氧水域不断增多，如今已达500个。路易斯安那州沿岸的‘死亡地带’是全球第二大人为产生的低氧水域，从密西西比河入海口向西蔓延到德克萨斯州沿海。如今，该水域越发频繁地向密西西比河东部蔓延。”

Nitrogen and phosphorus pollution enters the Mississippi throughout its watershed, which includes runoff from Midwest crop farms and meat producers that stimulate massive algal growth that eventually decomposes, which uses up the oxygen needed to support life in the Gulf.
美国中西部有大量农田与肉制品生产商，他们使用的肥料和添加剂含有氮、磷等污染物。地表受到雨水冲刷后，污染物就会通过分水岭汇入密西西比河，进入墨西哥湾。氮、磷元素导致藻类植物肆意生长并最终分解，整个过程将会消耗大量氧气，导致其他海洋生物缺氧而无法存活。

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National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 美国国家海洋和大气管理局（隶属于美国商务部）