Innovation Pipeline

From outer space, the Gulf of Mexico looks different these days.

Satellite pictures show a huge green blob off the coast of Louisiana. Scientists call it the “dead zone,” because very little lives there anymore.

The cause is nitrogen fertilizer spilled into the gulf by the Mississippi and Atchafalaya rivers. The nitrogen has fueled the explosive growth of algae, which chokes off the ocean’s oxygen.

Each year the dead zone gets bigger. This summer it was measured at 8,800 square miles.

Scientists say dead zones like this one now rank with overfishing and habitat loss as major threats to oceans around the world. A study in the journal Science tallies 405 dead zones in waters worldwide, affecting an area of 95,000 square miles, about the size of New Zealand.

The obvious answer is to reduce nitrogen runoff and/or find a way to kill the algae without damaging the ocean.

Researchers may have found a way.

Scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology said recently they’ve discovered a diatom that can reduce the levels of red tide toxicity (red tide algae blooms) that impact both animals and other algae.

The diatoms work by devouring red tide toxins. Researchers are hoping to extend their understanding of the diatoms so one day they can be put to work on a large scale. –Lee Bruno