[obol] very interesting article about Oregon ocean dead zone

[Josh Ellis]

For those interested in further reading, I have a PDF of the Science
article published today that's spurring all the news coverage.

In the Galapagos Islands El Nino events have led to similar marine
conditions.  The westerly trade winds subside, allowing warm water to
wash back from the South American coast.  This stops the Humboldt
Current from upwelling near the islands, causing hypoxia and low
nutrient content.  There was an El Nino event, I believe in the late
1980s if I remember correctly, that decimated up to 95% of most seabird
populations on the islands in a single season.

The impact on our Northwest seabirds as a result of these hypoxic events
would be interesting to know more about.  If the zone increases in size
we might end up with some Galapagos-sized die-offs.

~Josh
-----------
Josh Ellis
Product Engineer
Electrical Geodesics, Inc.
2979 Chad Dr. 
Eugene, OR 97408
541-334-0384
jellis at egi.com

-----Original Message-----
Message: 16
Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2008 10:51:39 -0800
From: DJ Lauten and KACastelein <deweysage at verizon.net>
Subject: [obol] very interesting article about Oregon ocean dead zone

Folks,

Here is a link to an excellent article about the current off shore dead 
zone:

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/02/15/7082/

Certainly will be impacting the seabirds.

Cheers
Dave Lauten
Bandon OR
deweysage at verizon.net