June 24, 2025 — NOAA scientists have forecast that the annual “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico, currently referred to as the Gulf of America by the U.S. government, will be 5,574 square miles – just slightly higher than the long-term average of 5,244 square miles.
The dead zone is a massive hypoxic area caused by excess nutrient pollution and other discharges into the Mississippi-Atchafalaya watershed, which feeds algae growth in the Gulf of Mexico.