The dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico is shrinking because of warming water and not because of less nitrate flowing in from the Mississippi River complex, according to two leading researchers.
Thanks, Art, for the information contained in the article. I see this as a huge piece of ripe propaganda ready to spread across the intellectual fields of the uninformed. Looking at the recent Iowa Poll, we are losing the battle to win hearts and minds. Uphill we march. Thank you for helping lead us.
It is interesting to me as one who was involved in Iowa Farming until 1968 that as animals were removed from small farms and placed in confined lots, the use of nitrate fertilizer increased. Scooping out the Dairy Barn and swine feeding floor were every. Morning Chores
The fields received the benefits of the manure and the Bank Account received the benefits of not having to to go to the supply store for soil amendments.
The Animal Confinement was localized at a place that didn’t necessarily produce the feed for the Animals. The manure was a problem because the old Farmal could pull the spreader though one gate or another and discharge its load on a field or pasture. To have to go to town to get the manure from a Confinement Center required a road worthy and road legal vehicle. Also, Confined Animals required various medicines to protect them from the maladies of Confinement. Not necessarily what Ol’McDonald wants on his field.
So, he goes to the bank to get funds to buy fertilizer. The Bank became a partner in the endeavor and required the protection of Crop Insurance . Making is simple just made it more complicated. Not to mention poisoning the ground water and adding organic material back into the soil. I find myself like so many Iowans, we finally inherit the Farm when in our seventies. I don’t like what the tenants have been doing to Granpa’s Farm but looks like they are getting another year. First thing the Attorney told me, “Under Iowa Law, one can only change tenants in September
Could someone please explain to me how warming water REDUCES the size of the hypoxia zone? When water becomes warmer the molecule EXPANDS - hence inundation of coastal wetlands and towns. Seems to me the hypoxia zone should be greater.
“Some models predict that the hypoxic zone in the northern Gulf of Mexico will increase by 1 to 10% (Eldridge and Roelke 2010; Altieri and Gedan 2015; Lehrter 2017). The authors frequently acknowledge that models are insufficient to capture the many biogeochemical processes, omitting temperature effects on biological components or using only one phytoplankton type (diatoms) to simplify modeling. But the biology is not constant and changes with temperature. Warming will have an effect on food web components involved in the creation of the organic matter in surface waters and its downward flux where it is decomposed and deoxygenates the bottom layer.” — Rabalais and Turner
Thanks, Art, for the information contained in the article. I see this as a huge piece of ripe propaganda ready to spread across the intellectual fields of the uninformed. Looking at the recent Iowa Poll, we are losing the battle to win hearts and minds. Uphill we march. Thank you for helping lead us.
It is interesting to me as one who was involved in Iowa Farming until 1968 that as animals were removed from small farms and placed in confined lots, the use of nitrate fertilizer increased. Scooping out the Dairy Barn and swine feeding floor were every. Morning Chores
The fields received the benefits of the manure and the Bank Account received the benefits of not having to to go to the supply store for soil amendments.
The Animal Confinement was localized at a place that didn’t necessarily produce the feed for the Animals. The manure was a problem because the old Farmal could pull the spreader though one gate or another and discharge its load on a field or pasture. To have to go to town to get the manure from a Confinement Center required a road worthy and road legal vehicle. Also, Confined Animals required various medicines to protect them from the maladies of Confinement. Not necessarily what Ol’McDonald wants on his field.
So, he goes to the bank to get funds to buy fertilizer. The Bank became a partner in the endeavor and required the protection of Crop Insurance . Making is simple just made it more complicated. Not to mention poisoning the ground water and adding organic material back into the soil. I find myself like so many Iowans, we finally inherit the Farm when in our seventies. I don’t like what the tenants have been doing to Granpa’s Farm but looks like they are getting another year. First thing the Attorney told me, “Under Iowa Law, one can only change tenants in September
Could someone please explain to me how warming water REDUCES the size of the hypoxia zone? When water becomes warmer the molecule EXPANDS - hence inundation of coastal wetlands and towns. Seems to me the hypoxia zone should be greater.
“Some models predict that the hypoxic zone in the northern Gulf of Mexico will increase by 1 to 10% (Eldridge and Roelke 2010; Altieri and Gedan 2015; Lehrter 2017). The authors frequently acknowledge that models are insufficient to capture the many biogeochemical processes, omitting temperature effects on biological components or using only one phytoplankton type (diatoms) to simplify modeling. But the biology is not constant and changes with temperature. Warming will have an effect on food web components involved in the creation of the organic matter in surface waters and its downward flux where it is decomposed and deoxygenates the bottom layer.” — Rabalais and Turner