Ideas worth spreading

The "dead zone" of the Gulf of Mexico

1,300,834 views | Nancy Rabalais • TEDWomen 2017

Ocean expert Nancy Rabalais tracks the ominously named "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico -- where there isn't enough oxygen in the water to support life. The Gulf has the second largest dead zone in the world; on top of killing fish and crustaceans, it's also killing fisheries in these waters. Rabalais tells us about what's causing it -- and how we can reverse its harmful effects and restore one of America's natural treasures.

Ocean expert Nancy Rabalais tracks the ominously named "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico -- where there isn't enough oxygen in the water to support life. The Gulf has the second largest dead zone in the world; on top of killing fish and crustaceans, it's also killing fisheries in these waters. Rabalais tells us about what's causing it -- and how we can reverse its harmful effects and restore one of America's natural treasures.

This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

About the speaker

Nancy Rabalais

Marine scientist, educator

See speaker profile

Nancy Rabalais has studied coastal marine ecosystems for more than 40 years now and loves to share that knowledge.

Nancy N. Rabalais and R. Eugene Turner | American Geophysical Union, 2001 | Book

Coastal Hypoxia: Consequences for Living Resources and Ecosystems

This book, while published quite a while ago, is a unique collection of different levels of organisms and their populations or community structure under the influence of low dissolved oxygen. Items not found elsewhere.

| Explore

GulfHypoxia.net

A resource for the studies conducted in the Gulf of Mexico, where low oxygen waters develop every year in spring through summer. Summaries of data, notes from each shelf-wide mapping cruise, maps, and a great photo gallery in each summer’s folder.

Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission | UNESCO | Article

"Deoxygenation – Open Ocean and Coastal Waters"

Issues of Deoxygenation (or loss of oxygen) in the oceans and coastal waters is an increasingly serious issue. Both result from human activities affecting a warming ocean and landscapes that deliver excess nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) to coastal waters. The Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO is in the forefront of delivering the message with the help of the GO2NE (Global Ocean Oxygen Network) to the scientific and public members of society.

Breitburg et al. | Science, 2018 | Article

"Ocean deoxygenation – Causes and consequences in a changing world"

A recent published review in the journal Science provides a synthesis of the loss of oxygen in the oceans from the GO2NE group.

Rabalais, N.N., Cai, W.-J., J. Carstensen, D.J. Conley, B. Fry, X. Quiñones-Rivera, R. Rosenberg, C.P. Slomp, R.E. Turner, M. Voss, B. Wissel, and J. Zhang | Oceanography, 2015 | Article

Eutrophication-driven deoxygenation in the coastal ocean"

Rabalais, N. N., R. E. Turner, B. K. Sen Gupta, E. Platon and M. L. Parsons | Ecological Applications, 2007 | Article

"Sediments tell the history of eutrophication and hypoxia in the northern Gulf of Mexico"

Fulweiler, R. W., A. S. Heiskanen, and N. N. Rabalais | Marine Pollution Bulletin, 2012 | Article

"The eutrophication commandments."

Learn more

This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.