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Reducing the size of the Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone represents one of the nation's crucial water management challenges. Recent research has coupled two models, incorporating surface winds, tides, currents, heat, oxygen, solar radiation, and freshwater and nutrient fluxes from the Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers. The resulting tool indicates that hypoxia originates in bottom waters on the mid-continental shelf and goes through a seasonal cycle, with intermittent episodes during May and June, persistence during July and August, and dissipation during September. [Source: National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science]
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