GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) — For the sixth year in a row, a dead zone of oxygen-depleted water that kills crabs and drives out fish is forming off the Oregon Coast, raising the possibility it could become the new normal as the climate warms, scientists said Monday.
The formation appeared to be dissipating in early July, but a survey of the 25 miles of Continental Shelf between Newport and Cape Perpetua last Friday by the Oregon State University research vessel Elakha found conditions returning to those of last year.
"It does, indeed, appear to be the new normal," said Jane Lubchenco, professor of marine biology at OSU. "The appearance of the low-oxygen water again is consistent with predictions of climate change. The fact that we are seeing six in a row now tells us that something pretty fundamental has changed about conditions off of our coast."
Unlike the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico, which is caused by fertilizer washing down the Mississippi River, the Oregon Coast dead zone is triggered by northerly winds, which create an ocean-mixing condition called upwelling. This brings low-oxygen waters from deep in the ocean close to shore, and spreads nitrogen and other nutrients through the water column, kicking off a population boom of plankton, the tiny plants and animals at the foundation of the ocean food web.
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