Scientists are predicting a near-record Gulf of Mexico "dead zone" where the water holds too little oxygen to sustain marine life. A Louisiana-based team has estimated the dead zone will be 8,700 square miles (22,560 square kilometers). The record set in 2017 is 8,776 square miles (22,700 square kilometers). Scientists had said earlier that widespread flooding made a large dead zone likely this year. Storms before last year's mapping cruise reduced that hypoxic zone to about 2,720 square miles (7,040 square kilometers), about 40% the average size that had been predicted, and among the smallest recorded.

Source: ABC News June 10, 2019 21:13 UTC