Millions of dead fish washed ashore at Jones Park in Gulfport, MS. Was this large fish kill the result of the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster? As tempting as it might be to blame BP for this, it was more likely related to oxygen depletion in the water. NASA has posted an image showing areas around the world where these aquatic dead zones are located.
The size and number of marine dead zones—areas where the deep water is so low in dissolved oxygen that sea creatures can’t survive—have grown explosively in the past half-century. Red circles on this map show the location and size of many of our planet’s dead zones. Black dots show where dead zones have been observed, but their size is unknown.
