Tag: Nature Communications

Shedding New Light on the Nitrogen Cycle in the Dark Ocean

May 6, 2020 By Jon Kelvey Eos
Every year, the Mississippi River dumps around 1.4 million metric tons of nitrogen into the Gulf of Mexico, much of it runoff from agricultural fertilizer. This nitrogen can lead to algal blooms, which in turn deplete oxygen concentrations in the water, creating hypoxic dead zones. The nitrogen cycle is a phenomenon environmental scientists would really like to understand better.