CLEVELAND - Lake Erie's "dead zone" near here is expected to return in August, but scientists are more concerned about another such zone that is much closer to Toledo.
In a dead zone, there is so little oxygen along the lake bottom that fish cannot survive. Scientists have monitored the phenomenon in Lake Erie's central basin from Ashtabula to Cleveland for years, but 70 miles west, in the Sandusky sub-basin, the problem has worsened to the point that there is no oxygen at all.
"Anything lower than four parts of oxygen per thousand is problematic," said Stuart Ludsin, lead scientist on the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory's Lake Erie project. "Around Sandusky, it's between zero and one parts per thousand in several spots."
To make matters worse, the dead zone arrived earlier than usual this year. Typically, oxygen levels are especially low in mid to late August; researchers discovered the low levels near Sandusky on June 29.
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