What is Hypoxia?
Hypoxia, or low oxygen, is an environmental phenomenon where the concentration of dissolved oxygen in the water column decreases to a level that can no longer support living aquatic organisms, such as fish, crabs and shrimp. Hypoxic areas, or “Dead Zones,” have increased in duration and frequency across our planet’s oceans since first being noted in the 1970s.
July 2023
The largest hypoxic zone currently affecting the United States, and the second largest coastal hypoxic zone worldwide, is the northern Gulf of Mexico adjacent to the Mississippi River.
