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Mysterious black blob threatens Florida

Ethan Hawke

17:23 / 27.03.02

Well, not threatens, really. It's more just sitting there. Last night on the news I heard scientists were "baffled" by this thing,but now they *think* it's algae. (which begs the question, how can you *not* be sure it's algae.) Any way, here's the story:
Blobbolicious

Anyone got a picture of this thing?

pointless and uncalled for

17:47 / 27.03.02

From the lovely folks at CNN.

grant

21:06 / 27.03.02

Speaking officially as a resident of Florida: That's fucking weird.

Tamayyurt

00:05 / 28.03.02

And it's gonna eat me before it eats grant!

moriarty

03:46 / 28.03.02

When a writer for the tabloids thinks something is weird, it's time to run for the hills.

Mazarine

06:08 / 28.03.02

Ick. The article Todd linked mentions that it was first noted in mid-December. I wonder how fast it grew. Way creepy, three months to poke at it and they're not sure if it's algae.

higuita

12:18 / 28.03.02

Is that the same stuff as the algae that kills all the marine life under it and breeds like billy-o? I think we can all be justly proud that years of dumping shite in the sea has come back to haunt us [although radioactive waste from Sellafield contaminating the Norwegian coastline is just plain funny].

grant

12:43 / 28.03.02

The fun part is Florida Bay serves as a spawning ground for pretty much every fish in the central Atlantic - grouper, snapper, mahi-mahi, pompano, roughy. Expect fish prices to rise as the populations drop.

Laughing

13:13 / 28.03.02

Cthulhu is coming.

His first target: Disney World.

Spatula Clarke

13:51 / 28.03.02

Only Steve McQueen can save us now.

pointless and uncalled for

13:56 / 28.03.02

Steve McQueen, you have to be kidding. Black blobs in the ocean are MacGuyver's job.

Captain Zoom

14:37 / 28.03.02

I'm calling up Dr. Armitage at Miskatonic, and then I'm getting me some elder signs.

I told you all, but no one listened.

The stars are right.

Zoom.

tSuibhne

15:05 / 28.03.02

Acctually they said this doesn't appear to be a fish killing algie.

What I found most interesting was the theory that it was a dead spot. A peice of ocean with no oxygen is what I assume they mean. Do these things exist?

Captain Zoom

15:21 / 28.03.02

What would be the chemical composition of such a thing?
Surely water without Oxygen is "H2" (sorry, don't know how to do subscript)

Is that right?

Zoom.

pointless and uncalled for

15:29 / 28.03.02

Not quite on the ball there Zoom. For want of a better description, water, unless put through certain measures, contains gaseous elements disolved therein. This primarily includes the components of air. Not all oxygen in water is contained within molecule format. Some of it is just O2 molecules or in the case of ozone, O3 molecules.

tSuibhne

16:53 / 28.03.02

I was acctually wondering the same thing Zoom.

So, basically, these dead zones, would be water with no extra oxygen (beyond the water molecule) Is that what you're saying?

Again, I've gotta ask, do these things really exist? Or are they just a theory.

pointless and uncalled for

17:03 / 28.03.02

When someone says that that there is no oxygen in the water they would be refering to disolved oxygen.

Now in terms of the actual presence of dead zones, that's a different matter. I can't effectively comment on thier legitimacy without further scientific information.

It seems difficult that there be a dead zone in a body of water that is in contact with air, let alone a growing dead zone without the introduction of an extreme contiminant. For something to be able to fuck around with water like that it's got to be something scary.

Without additional information I'm disinclined to accept a dead zone theory of other more plausable options.

cusm

17:06 / 28.03.02

Its like distilled water. Its deionized. By that, the O2 ions normally floating about are removed and you have just H2O, rather than an H2O solution containing O2 and (I think, its been awhile since I had a chem class) OH bits floating around in it.

Besides fish not being able to breathe, deionized water can't dissolve other materials as well either. Its normally the ions that react with other chemicals when dissolved in water. The odd thing is, how can that happen to a huge stretch of ocean!?!

We might need Godzilla to save us from this one, battle the ocean smog monster over the fate of Disneyland.

EEEEEOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH

pointless and uncalled for

17:10 / 28.03.02

Again, I can't accept deionization without a contaminant of fucking nasty proportions. Otherwise osmosis would have settled the deal before the day was out.

tSuibhne

19:25 / 28.03.02

I didn't say it was a dead zone. Acctually the article says it isn't. Here's the quote:

"Tuesday, Mote Marine Laboratory found there is oxygen in the water column -- it's not a "dead zone," as some had suspected."

I was just surprised that some suspected that it was one. I'd never heard of such a thing, and have no idea how one would be created. Hence my question as to whether such a thing has ever existed.

13:15 / 29.03.02

I think you'll find that the black spot consists of millions upon millions of nano-terrorists, all of them itchin' to carry out jihad on the US of A.

grant

16:54 / 29.03.02

My favorite theory thus far is that it's Jeb Bush's soul, desperately trying to return to his tainted body.

gentleman loser

18:55 / 29.03.02

There's no mystery about any of this. It is is a well understood, but mostly ignored problem caused in part by fertilizer runoff that runs into the Mississippi river basin. Most people think that chemical fertilizer magically disappears when dumped on lawns, crops, etc. What really happens is that it flows into river basins and out to the ocean where it causes algae blooms. Oh and let's not forget the billions of tons of animal shit (five tons produced annually for every U.S. citizen) produced by the livestock industry.

Mississippi Delta Blues

Dust blowing from the Sahara also contributes to the problem, but I suspect that the fertilizer and livestock waste contribution is much more serious.

gentleman loser

19:00 / 29.03.02

Sorry about the line break problems. Hopefully it will get corrected with moderation. Arrrgh!

Just to add: I've not ignored gentleman loser's post, but this link is at pains to assure us that

Quote:
“Nothing indicates that this is anything other than a natural event,” McRae said in a telephone interview. Importantly, he added, “there’s no toxicity associated with it like there is with a red tide.”

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