In the film "The Day After Tomorrow," the world enters the icy grip of a new glacial period within the space of just a few weeks. New research shows this scenario may not be so far from the truth after all....

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With an area of about 5.4 million square miles, the Arctic Ocean is about 1.5 times as big as the United States. It is bordered by Greenland, Canada, Norway, Alaska, and Russia. The average depth of the Arctic Ocean is 12,000 feet and it is 17,850 feet at its deepest point....

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The world's oceans are absorbing less carbon dioxide, a geophysicist has found after pooling data taken over the past 50 years. With the oceans currently absorbing over 40 percent of the CO2 emitted by human activity, this could quicken the pace of climate change, according to the study....

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Recording hundreds of thousands of individual uplinks from satellite transmitters fitted on penguins, albatrosses, sea lions, and other marine animals, conservation scientists have released the first-ever atlas of the Patagonian Sea -- a globally important but poorly understood South American marine ecosystem....

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The first-ever Australian benchmark of climate change impacts on marine ecosystems and options for adaptation is being released. The Marine Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation Report Card for Australia, and an accompanying website, will provide a biennial guide for scientists, government and the community on observed and projected impacts of climate change on marine ecosystems....

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For 200 years, NOAA's National Geodetic Survey and its predecessor organizations have been using geodesy to map the U.S. shoreline, determine land boundaries, and improve transportation and navigation safety. Geodesy is the science of measuring and monitoring the size and shape of the Earth and the location of points on its surface....

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Whales are very social creatures that travel in groups called “pods.” They use a variety of noises to communicate and socialize with each other. The three main types of sounds made by whales are clicks, whistles, and pulsed calls....

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The most common type of reef is the fringing reef. This type of reef grows seaward directly from the shore. They form borders along the shoreline and surrounding islands. When a fringing reef continues to grow upward from a volcanic island that has sunk entirely below sea level, an atoll is formed. Atolls are usually circular or oval in shape, with an open lagoon in the center. Barrier reefs are similar to fringing reefs in that they also border a shoreline; however, instead of growing directly out from the shore, they are separated from land by an expanse of water. This creates a lagoon of open, often deep water between the reef and the shore....

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The Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument is not only the largest conservation area in the U.S., it's one of the largest marine conservation areas in the world. It's larger than all of America’s national parks combined! This vast region preserves many of Hawaii’s Northwestern Islands and is made up of 139,797 square miles of reefs, atolls, shallow waters, and deep seas....

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On two separate missions in September and October, the NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette set sail from Honolulu, Hawaii, to scour, somewhat literally, portions of the vast and remote Northwestern Hawaiian Islands....

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