How the Surfing Business Could be a Wipeout for an Iconic Calif. Town
To create perfect surfing conditions, nature needs to provide the right amount of deep-ocean swells, peculiar ocean-floor geography and wind. Coupled with sea-level rise, as beaches erode, the practice of beach replenishment – dredging and dumping sand to extend beaches and reclaim them from the ocean – is also destroying surf in some communities.
Along Cuba’s Coast, The Last Best Coral Reef in the Caribbean Thrives
While coral reef cover has declined by 50 percent throughout the Caribbean, Cuba has managed to retain some of the most pristine coral reef environments on earth. Lack of coastal development, limited tourism, small amounts of runoff flowing into the sea, tight controls on commercial fishing, and the establishment of extensive marine protected areas have all combined to give Cuba the most remarkable coral reef environments in the Caribbean.
Thick Dust Plumes Obscure Africa’s Coast
Hundreds of millions of tons of sand and dust particles are lifted from North African deserts each year and carried across the Atlantic Ocean to South America. The trans-continental journey of dust is important because of what is often in the dust…
Scientists Question Rush to Build Nicaragua Canal
A consortium of environmental scientists has expressed strong concern about the impact of a controversial Central American canal across Nicaragua, to connect the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.