Revisiting Bikini Atoll

Sixty years ago, the United States detonated a thermonuclear bomb on Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands, that altered the landscape, hundreds of lives, and the trajectory of a nuclear arms race.

Human Activity Influences Beach Bacterial Diversity

Human activity influences ocean beach bacterial communities, and bacterial diversity may indicate greater ecological health and resiliency to sewage contamination. Beaches all contain bacteria, but some bacteria are usually from sewage and may contaminate the water, posing a public health risk.

Computer Model to Help Managers with Renourishment Decisions?

Since the first project of its kind in the U.S. at Coney Island, N.Y., in 1922, coastal managers have used beach nourishment – essentially importing sand to replace sediment lost through storms or erosion – to restore damaged beaches, but it is laborious and expensive.

Southern Patagonia Ice Field

With an area of 13,000 square kilometers (5,000 square miles), the Southern Patagonia Ice Field is the largest temperate ice sheet in the Southern Hemisphere. This grand panorama shows that many glacier tongues showed significant annual “retreat” of their ice fronts, a familiar signal of climate change.