Topic: dead zones

This handout photo provided by the Smithsonian shows dead juvenile menhaden fish floating to the surface during a dead zone event in Narragansett Bay, R.I. Global warming is likely playing a bigger role than previously thought in dead zones in waterways around the world and it’s only going to get worse, according to a new study.Dead zones occur in oceans, lakes and rivers when fertilizer runoff clog waterways with nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorous, which leads to an explosion of microbes that consumes oxygen and leaves the water starving for oxygen, harming marine life. (AP Photo/Andrew Altieri, Smithsonian) (AP)

Seth Borenstein