The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, in collaboration with NOAA and U.S. Geological Survey, recently released a report that discusses the impacts of sea-level rise on the coast, coastal communities, and the habitats and species that depend on coastal areas, with a focus on the eight coastal states from New York to North Carolina....

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The concept of coastal zone management is a relatively new one, emerging less than four decades ago from the need to tackle an array of interconnected problems associated with population growth and development along our nation’s coasts....

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Volcanic eruptions occur only in certain places and do not occur randomly. This is because the Earth’s crust is broken into a series of slabs known as tectonic plates. These plates are rigid, but they “float” on a hotter, softer layer in the Earth's interior. As the plates move, they spread apart, collide, or slide past each other....

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Rogues, called 'extreme storm waves' by scientists, are those waves which are greater than twice the size of surrounding waves, are very unpredictable, and often come unexpectedly from directions other than prevailing wind and waves....

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Life on Earth is found in conditions ranging from the coldest arctic ice to extremely hot hydrothermal systems on the ocean floor. Microbes are also found in very acidic conditions, very salty conditions, and very alkaline conditions. These microbes are called “extremophiles” (which means 'lovers of extremes').
While conditions on the surface of the Earth where humans are happy are likely to be extremely rare outside of our home planet, the range of conditions in which microbes are found on Earth are more likely to be found on other planets and moons.

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On January 7, rapid responders removed the first reported invasive lionfish from the waters of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary within 24 hours of notification. This marks the first arrival of lionfish into the Florida Keys since the species became established in U.S. waters in 2000....

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The highest tides in the world can be found in Canada at the Bay of Fundy, which separates New Brunswick from Nova Scotia....

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Tides are very long-period waves that move through the oceans in response to the forces exerted by the moon and sun. Tides originate in the oceans and progress toward the coastlines where they appear as the regular rise and fall of the sea surface....

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Most scientists agree that the atmosphere and the oceans accumulated gradually over millions and millions of years with the continual ‘degassing’ of the Earth’s interior....

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While there is only one global ocean, the seas are geographically divided into the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Arctic, and Southern (Antarctic) Oceans....

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