According to ecologists from the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science the “dead zone”, an area of low oxygen that can kill fish and other aquatic life in the Chesapeake Bay this summer could be one of the largest in the last two decades.
Above average river flows from increased rainfall since last fall, which has washed extra nutrients into the bay, is the reason for the expected increase.
The dead zone is expected to be about 2.1 cubic miles in size, according to the scientists, which would make it among the four largest in the past 20 years.
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