
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, September 25, 1993                   TAG: 9309250127
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MIAMI                                LENGTH: Short

MISSISSIPPI'S FLOOD WATERS DISCOVERED OFF FLORIDA COAST

Oceanographer Rod Zika and colleagues were on a boat 10 miles off the Florida coast, studying waves and currents for research on oil spills, when they found something they weren't looking for: a whole lot of fresh water.

They discovered that the devastating summer floods in the Midwest are now being felt 1,500 miles away. The Mississippi River's waters are flowing around Florida and into the Atlantic Ocean in a freshwater river at least 10 miles wide being carried by the Gulf Stream.

"What we observed as a result of that water was a dramatic change in the chemistry and the biology off the south Florida coast," Zika said Thursday. "We've never seen this dramatic an effect on it along the Florida coast before."

One result: Parts of the Gulf Stream, normally deep blue off of southern Florida, are instead dark green.

The effects of all that fresh water on marine life aren't clear, however.

Fish may not be killed but might move to water with higher salinity. Area fishermen have reported having to head miles farther out to sea, past the Gulf Stream, to get normal catches.

The Mississippi's normal outflow into the Gulf of Mexico, he said, is very small compared to the flow of water in the Gulf Stream. But now, there are signs of the river's fresh water in an area 10 to 12 miles wide and more than 60 feet deep.

by CNB