Posted on 06/11/2015 12:07:50 PM PDT by smokingfrog
COLLEGE STATION - Record rainfall totals in many parts of Texas the past few weeks means a record amount of freshwater pouring into the Gulf of Mexico as high as 10 times the normal rate and that could lead to huge problems for marine life and commercial fishermen very soon, warns a Texas A&M University oceanographer.
Steve DiMarco, professor of oceanography, says the huge rainfall amounts in the last month mean that such rivers as the Brazos, Trinity, Colorado and others currently are carrying record amounts of water flowing southward to the Gulf, similar to a situation that occurred in 2007 when rivers carried 10 to 20 times the normal seasonal rate of discharge into the Gulf.
When this happens, the coastal waters become stratified, meaning that the lighter freshwater will stay at the surface and cap the saltier, and heavier, ocean water beneath, he explains. Because the salt water is isolated from the atmosphere, oxygen levels in that water will begin to drop.
That is exactly what is going on right now and in the weeks to come, and when this happens, it almost always means many marine organisms, particularly those that live near and at the ocean bottom, cant get enough oxygen and they can get sick and die.
In a dead zone, technically called hypoxia, marine life for thousands of square miles become distressed and fish kills can occur. Dead zones have been happening in the Gulf for decades off the Texas-Louisiana coastline, but the record amounts of rain this year could mean a sort of dead zone within a dead zone, DiMarco says.
(Excerpt) Read more at kbtx.com ...
LOL!!!
Saw it immediately after I posted. Who knew?
You know what comes next. A huge media push for TAXES TO THE UN!
Yeah, that’ll tame that nasty weather.
Texans
Different Colorado River.......
Different Colorado that the one in Arizona....
A couple of Gulf of Mexico hurricanes will mix it all up.
Too much water is a problem for the ocean. Hopefully it the ocean doesn’t flood.
I hope you washed your boat after it.
It's The TEXAS Colorado!!!
GEEZE "eastern"
Them's a Fightin' words!
I may currently be in NC but I lived in TEXAS for 35+ years, even reaching the status of Damned Yankee because I never went back North.
And it is all because of globull warming. No, sir, it has NEVER flooded like this in the history of the world.
Lol!!
Oh. THAT Colorado River. Not the other one.
Lets pray for some globull Warning Hurricanes to churn up the Gulf.
It’s up to all of us to fix this. Everyone go out and start your lawn mowers...
How could they fail to get “global warming” in the first paragraph?
The drought has hurt thousands of businesses along our dried up rivers for years. Thankfully, the rains came in time for the summer season. Any problem in the ocean will be remedied in short order.
Colorado (the state) has been getting record amounts of rain in May, and in the next two days it is forecasted to get record amounts of rain for June. Lake Mead will get all of what falls on the western side of the continental divide.
A couple of smallish tropical storms would be preferable.
Hopefully, you have a “speed boat” like Marco Rubio when that happens!
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