S2SS Map 6.28.06.qrk 6/28/06 3:01 PM Page 1

Arctic OCEAN ARCTIC OCEAN, BEAUFORT SEA

Beaufort 5 Sea

Alaska

Continental Submarine Canyons: Shelves:. The continental slopes are riven The nearly horizontal with submarine canyons, the platforms of thick sediment work of eroding streams of encircling the continents muddy water through which where the sea is relatively sediment ultimately reaches and shallow compared with the spreads out across the vast flat abyssal plains of the ocean floor. open ocean. GEORGES BANK S A N D 4 S S L T I A N L E U T I A N U a O k 12 s M l a Oceanographer Canyon A C H A STELLWAGEN E N C BANK S R E u A T L E U A N r T I r N e THUNDER Hudson Canyon O R n BAY R O GULF OF ALASKA t T R S u b H E a r c t GULF P P i c SEAMOUNTS WHALE BREACHING - FLIP NICKLIN/MINDEN PICTURES A W Strait of C E M Seamounts are active Juan de Fuca STREAM S E I F T or extinct underwater C B I u r A C volcanoes rising at least r e ATLaNTIC S Tectonic Plates: n t t I 3200 feet above the seafloor. OLYMPIC n N MONITOR e Like pieces of a gigantic COAST r Those that penetrate the 6 r N jigsaw puzzle, Earth’s rocky OCEAN u surface become islands, such O crust is broken into tectonic C R as the Hawaiian chain. T plates that move. Their slow S H E HAWAIIAN MONK SEAL - DAVID B. FLEETHAM/SEAPICS.COM yet rough-and-tumble jostling T o P causes earthquakes and 11 i a volcanoes, and forges JUAN DE FUCA A h c T s i f mountains, valleys, seamounts RIDGE S o i r c and deep-sea trenches. D u C E K a T O l I o M E N D C I N O F i f N c R A C T U o U e R E Z O N E r are formed a n GRAY’S Trenches n i when dense oceanic crust a

slides beneath lighter oceanic CORDELL BANK National Marine MONTEREY crust or continental crust. Sanctuaries: GULF OF THE The Mariana Trench, Earth’s PUERTO RICO

The National Marine CANYON FARALLONES deepest, plunges nearly 6.8 Hot Spots: TRENCH miles (35827 ft) beneath the Sanctuary System serves as C MONTEREY the trustee for a system of Streams of molten rock arise u Pacific’s surface. r BAY deep inside the Earth and r 14 marine protected areas, e move upward through the n 7 encompassing more than t NORTHERN 150,000 square miles. The crust to erupt on the surface Seafloor Spreading NORTHWESTERN CHANNEL 8 MARIANA system includes 13 national or seafloor. As seafloor occurs where two tectonic HAWAIIAN ISLANDS spreading moves the crust ISLANDS ISLANDS H MARINE NATIONAL marine sanctuaries and the plates slowly separate—by FLOWER KEYS GARDEN 9 A MONUMENT over these “hot spots,” erup- several inches a year on f NWHI National Monument. BANKS o W N E tions can create chains of Z O average. Magma seeps s a R E it d A T U ra ri MARIANA seamounts and islands. R A C into these fissures, forming St lo I Y F f F 10 R R A new crust and raising o I A M U lf TRENCH mid-ocean ridges. Gu 1 DIVERS WITH GIANT MANTA RAY - FLIP NICKLIN/MINDEN PICTURES N co H exi Wake A Hydrothermal Continental Slopes: M Island 3 Vents: GULF OF MEXICO W At their outer edges, the Openings in the ocean floor continental shelves descend DRY A OIL/SALT DOMES PACIFIC WALRUS - BILL CURTSINGER I typically at or near a mid- abruptly along the continental TORTUGAS a I ocean ridge release hot, slopes to the true ocean e S A mineral-rich water that may floor—often reaching a depth n a N support rare and unusual of about 12,000 feet. be NORTHWESTERN forms of life. ib E r E Z O N a I C T U R C HAWAIIAN ISLANDS S R F R A L O K A I A I M O L www.ngsednet.org/oceans N D D G S E Abyssal Plains HAWAIIAN ISLANDS develop far offshore in HUMPBACK WHALE Johnston geologically stable areas of low sedimentation, well Exploring America’s Island Exploring America’s beyond the continental margins. These extensive, featureless regions of the deep ocean floor constitute Earth’s flattest surfaces. OceanOcean RealmsRealms

C E N T R A L P A C Currents: I F I C The Earth's winds are the driving of See the following educational resource B Few of us realize it, but by one definition of America's ocean realm is a rich mosaic of places, Exclusive A its surface ocean currents which transport web sites to extend use of this map in S I N Economic Zone: heat from the tropics to the higher what constitutes the , more of our from icy fjords to tropical coral reefs, from sunlit the classroom: latitudes, influence the location of major The area of sea up to 200 www.ngsednet.org/oceans fisheries, and affect coastal climates. nation is under water than on land! Some 4.4 shallows to lightless depths. These marine nautical miles from a Kingman www.oceanexplorer.noaa.gov When a warm such as the Kuroshio country’s coast. The country million square miles of ocean floor lies within ecosystems are habitats for seaweeds, snails, www.sanctuaries.noaa.gov/education Reef Current moves away from the Equator and has jurisdiction over the www.vims.edu/bridge along East Asia, the water warms the coast the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) over which octopuses, fishes and whales, and places where marine resources in its EEZ. www.coexploration.org/oceanliteracy Palmyra and increases precipitation. When a cool Traditionally, territorial waters current, such as the California Current, we claim jurisdiction and resources. That’s people sail, surf, , fish, and extract oil. extended only three miles Atoll heads back to the Equator after traveling from the coast—a distance compared to 3.6 million square miles of land. They are essential to our well-being. No nation to colder regions, it has cooled up to 10°F based on the range of a Howland KELP FOREST - AL GIDDINGS and can moderate extremes, Our list of America’s extraordinary places would governs a larger or more diverse ocean area. cannon shot. Island resulting in drier, milder climates along the likely include the Great Smoky Mountains, Grand This map is a new view of America's hidden SCHOOLMASTER SNAPPERS - BRIAN J. SKERRY/ IMAGE COLLECTION Baker California coast. Island Canyon, Yellowstone's geysers, the ancient undersea places. Explore with us a submarine EQ N o r t UAT h E q u forests of the Pacific Northwest, and Hawaii's trench that plummets nearly seven miles down, OR a t o r i a l C u r r e n t volcanoes. Yet equally magnificent places exist ocean currents that move thousands of times MAP KEY beneath the waves: the rich fishing grounds of more water than the Mississippi River, a frozen Jarvis Island Georges Bank, the teeming depths of Monterey sea that's home to imperiled polar bears, and MARINE SANCTUARY Canyon, the Gulf of Alaska's volcanic seamounts, beautiful deep-sea coral forests that scientists 200-nautical-mile or the Mariana Trench, Earth’s deepest point. discovered only in the 1990s. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) S O U T H AMERICAN P a C I F I SAMOA C Funding for the development of this map was made by the Ittleson Foundation and by a grant from O C E a N the National Geographic Education Foundation; additional funding was T UAMOTU provided by National Oceanic and ARCHIPELAGO Atmospheric Administration’s Ocean 2 Exploration Program, through a grant from the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation. FAGATELE BAY EEZ Shape file provided by General AMERICAN SAMOA (U.S.) www.mcbi.org www.nmsfocean.org www.oceanexplorer.noaa www.skytruth.org Dynamics Global Maritime Datatbase.

SEA TURTLE - JAMES WATT/SEAPICS.COM CARIBBEAN REEF SQUID - MASA USHIODA/SEAPICS.COM S2SS ART 6.28.06.qrk 6/28/06 6:34 PM Page 1

FROM SEA TO SHINING SEA MARIANA TRENCH AMERICAN SAMOA NORTHWESTERN HAWAIIAN ISLANDS EXPLORING AMERICA'S 1 An unexplored frontier at the ocean’s greatest depths 2 Ancient stewards of the ocean 3 World’s largest marine protected area Imagine the deepest, darkest place on Earth— American Samoa, a group of six islands in the The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI), an underwater trench plummeting to a depth South Pacific, is home to a vibrant Polynesian the world’s most isolated chain of coral atolls, of 35,800 feet, nearly seven miles below the culture and equally vibrant marine biodiversity. reefs, and islands, offer a rare glimpse of the OCEAN REALMS ocean surface. The Mariana Trench is one of The Samoas now host some of the largest world’s most diverse marine ecosystems. the least explored places on Earth. Deep enough populations of Polynesian people who arrived Stretching 1,200 miles northwest of the main to swallow Mt. Everest, the Mariana Trench was in ocean-going boats as early as 800 B.C. Hawaiian Islands, the NWHI provide essential first pinpointed in 1951 by the British Survey Fa'asamoa—the Samoan way of life—intertwines habitat for a multitude of marine species, ship Challenger II. Known since as Challenger a sense of ancestral respect and stewardship providing places where they can feed, grow, Deep, it was not visited for nearly ten years. toward the ocean and its creatures. In Samoan and breed. More than 7,000 species of algae, Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh descended in a folklore, sea turtles were believed to have the marine invertebrates, fish, sea turtles, seabirds, called the Trieste which could power to save fishermen who were lost at sea and marine mammals make up the NWHI’s web www.ngsednet.org/oceans withstand over 16,000 pounds of per by returning them safely to shore. Samoa’s of life. The NWHI provide a home to albatrosses square inch. Their descent to the bottom in reefs are home to many hundreds of fish species. and more than 14 million other seabirds as well cramped quarters took five hours, but provided Among Samoa’s most commercially important as over 90 percent of Hawaii’s green sea turtles our first glimpses of the seafloor and life at the fisheries are those for tuna, which migrate which return there to nest. The NWHI are also ocean’s greatest depths. The Mariana Trench long distances in the Pacific. American Samoa home to pristine deep-sea corals found in represents just one small part of the Earth’s is home to the largest tuna processing plants association with submarine canyons and

N last, great frontier. Less than five percent of in the world. These facilities process almost seamounts that are little-known. To protect the O T E L the entire ocean has been explored, yet 1,000 tons of tuna each day, which highlights D marine ecosystem surrounding the islands, the ID M N scientists have found that even the deep the importance of protecting Pacific Ocean A United States designated the NWHI as a coral US R/S sea has great numbers of species—and ecosystems. Through strong scientific research GE reef ecosystem reserve in 2000, and restricted WA DAVID LIITTSCH the discoveries have only just begun. and sound management, fisheries in the certain kinds of fishing that could damage region can be sustainable and Fa’asamoa coral and entangle rare species, such as the can be preserved. endangered Hawaiian monk seal. In 2006, the NWHI were designated as a Marine

SOUTHAMPTON CENTRE/IMAGEQUESTMARINE.COM CHRIS FALLOWS/APEXPREDATORS.COM National Monument.

KEVIN SCHAFER/CORBIS GULF OF ALASKA SEAMOUNT CHAINS ARCTIC-BEAUFORT SEA JUAN DE FUCA RIDGE Hidden mountain ranges beneath the ocean Impacts of climate change on sea ice Smokers on the ocean floor The ocean and humans are inextricably 4 5 6 Mountain ranges aren't only on land—indeed, The frigid, icy waters of the Arctic Ocean are Stretching 300 miles along the coast of interconnected. The ocean generates some of the world's biggest mountain ranges among the least explored in the world. Harsh, Washington and Oregon, the Juan de Fuca Ridge occur in the ocean! Underwater mountains called unforgiving conditions have led species to adapt is an underwater volcanic mountain range. the fresh water we drink, the seafloor seamounts rise high above the surrounding to the seasonal ice coverage in this region. For Created by the separation of the Juan de Fuca seafloor. Most of these are extinct volcanoes that example, some unique crustacean species or Plate and the Pacific Plate, the Juan de Fuca ALASKA crest of we breathe, our climate, seafood, and U.S. seamount formed above "hotspots" of magma rising from amphipods live permanently on the underside of Ridge is home to an extraordinary community oceanic old magma magma deep within the Earth. Beneath the waves in the ice flows, using large ice channels and crevasses of life whose source of energy is not the sun, new medicines. The brown, green, blue, crust chamber Gulf of Alaska stretch long chains of seamounts. as protection from predators. Ringed seals but sulfur-rich chemicals. Deriving energy The crest of one such peak, Patton Seamount, depend on sea ice as a place to breed and raise through chemosynthesis, bacteria form the basis and black waters of the marine realm reaches to within 600 feet of the surface. Over young, and polar bears prey on the seals. Sea of a deep-sea food chain that supports unusual 10,000 feet tall and 20 miles wide at the base, ice also protects Arctic communities and creatures such as red-and-white tubeworms, www.mcbi.org are home to myriad species—from tiny Patton Seamount originally formed off shorelines from erosion due to wind, waves, deep-sea crabs, and mussels. Undersea springs Washington state as a submerged volcano 33 and current. But global climate change can cause called hydrothermal vents release scalding plankton to great whales—many yet million years ago. Over time, as the Pacific plate a drastic reduction in the level of sea ice. Even plumes of 400oF lava-heated water. Carrying moved steadily northwest, Patton Seamount was a moderate rise in temperature will result in the sulfur-bearing minerals, the plumes look like to be discovered. Our ocean is largely carried off the hotspot and into the Gulf of loss of this crucial wildlife habitat, threatening black clouds and the vents are thus named Alaska. New volcanoes formed one after another the seal and polar bear populations, among “black smokers.” On contact with frigid seawater, unknown, 95% unexplored—unseen over this hotspot, producing today's seamount other species. The encroaching water level also the minerals crystallize and settle on the seafloor chain. Explorations of these seamounts in the native Alaskans to relocate their villages around the vent openings. Over time, the mineral Patton Seamount Gulf of Alaska have shown that despite the fact to areas safe from coastal erosion. Scientists deposits grow like chimneys to heights of a by human eyes. that most of these Pacific seamounts were fear that these accelerating changes will begin hundred feet or more. The chemistry of the www.nmsfocean.org So vast and mysterious is the ocean that we are tempted to view it as PACIFIC created by hotspots, they are all unique in their to occur faster than people and animals can ocean is controlled, in part, by this transfer of OCEAN size, shape, and volcanic features. The adapt. In some places, the shoreline has heat and chemicals through hydrothermal vents, indestructible. While the ocean provides great benefits, overfishing, seamounts teem with deep-sea corals, sponges, retreated by thirty feet per year. Increased making undersea hot springs important to destructive fishing practices, pollution, introduction of non-native species, and fish. Recent expeditions to these seamounts climate change in the Beaufort Sea region understanding ocean systems. and global climate change can threaten the ocean’s web of life if we using manned and ROVs have risks upsetting its delicate balance. discovered many marine species and have greatly aren’t careful. Many sharks and other fishes are far less abundant than expanded our knowledge of the range of deep- MICHIO HOSHINO/MINDEN PICTURES V. TUNNICLIFF PHOTO COURTESY OF THE 2000 GULF OF ALASKA SEAMOUNT SCIENCE PARTY, WHOI, they once were, but with new management practices other populations are AND NOAA OE; RELIEF IMAGES BY JOHN AMOS, SKYTRUTH; PATTON SEAMOUNT sea corals in this region. recovering. White abalone, Pacific leatherback sea turtles, short-tailed DATA PROVIDED BY OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY, DEPARTMENT OF GEOSCIENCES.

www.oceanexplorer.noaa albatrosses, Hawaiian monk seals, and North Atlantic right whales are species whose future will depend on decisions made by us, citizens and MONTEREY CANYON GULF OF MEXICO DRY TORTUGAS NATIONAL PARK leaders alike. We can better protect, recover, and sustainably use the 7 Marine life in California’s Grand Canyon 8 Oil fields among salt domes 9 Underwater treasures and safe haven for sea turtles wealth of marine life if we choose to. And that starts with knowing these special places in the ocean. Many of Earth’s highest peaks, deepest valleys, A belt of salt domes lies beneath the surface The Dry Tortugas, seven small islands of coral www.skytruth.org n t a i n s and most extensive plains are found in the of the Gulf of Mexico. Over 500 mushroom- rock and sand at the western end of the Florida C r u z M o u S a n t a Moss ocean. The undersea Monterey Canyon in shaped geological structures formed as the UNITED STATES Keys, have some of the healthiest remaining Landing California descends over two miles—twice as Gulf separated from the Atlantic Ocean. As coral reefs in the tropical Atlantic Ocean. The Monterey Bay deep as Arizona’s Grand Canyon. From the wavy water evaporated, salts sank to the bottom, Spanish called these islands Tortugas, their word 5 Santa surface to the blackest depths, Monterey Canyon creating thick salt beds that rose in some places for turtles, because huge numbers of green sea Cruz Monterey teems with beautiful and bizarre organisms. into domes thousands of feet tall and several turtles once grazed turtle grass in their shallows. Thriving in absolute darkness on the seafloor miles in diameter. Capped with corals as brilliant After surviving and flourishing for millions of are creatures that rely on chemical energy and colorful as beds of flowers, two salt domes years—since dinosaurs walked the land—sea 656 ft Gulf of 12 200 m derived from methane rather than sunlight. In house the Flower Garden Banks National Marine turtle populations are now severely depleted 4 Mexico the overlying water column, the canyon supports Sanctuary. It is home to thriving populations of worldwide. People have killed them for their 3,281 ft 2,297 ft 1,000 m 700 m a variety of creatures that spend their lives some of the ocean’s largest sharks and rays: fifty- meat and eggs, and inadvertently drowned 6 1,640 ft drifting on currents, including jellyfish, squid, foot long whale sharks, migrating hammerhead them in commercial fishing gear. The Dry 500 m 11 and lanternfish. The diversity of life in the surface sharks, and giant manta rays with twenty-foot Tortugas are now part of the Florida Keys PACIFIC OCEAN 6,562 ft 2,000 m waters above Monterey Canyon includes fish, wing spans. In the rocks deep below, carbon- National Marine Sanctuary which provides safe sea turtles, seabirds, and marine mammals, rich sediments generate oil and gas. Today, refuge for endangered green and loggerhead 1 3 7 8 which congregate to feed in this productive there are over 4,000 oil and gas platforms accumuulated sea turtles. Many coral reefs in the Florida Keys 9 10 environment. Rockfish and sea otters, among connected by 33,000 miles of pipeline on the sediments and the Caribbean have suffered from pollution North others, find shelter in the rich coastal kelp Gulf seafloor. Pollutants from the Mississippi River MEXICO and overfishing, but the Tortugas are still home forests. Giant kelp, a type of algae that can including agricultural fertilizers from as far north to corals that are hundreds of years old as well grow up to two feet per day, is the largest plant as the river’s source in Minnesota spill into the outer as sponges, octopuses, sea urchins, and a continental salt layer in the ocean reaching nearly 200 feet in length. Gulf. These fertilizers stimulate blooms of diversity of snappers, groupers, angelfish, and n shelf o Together these huge algae and their microscopic phytoplankton. When they die every summer, other reef fish. Many people visit Dry Tortugas y n a cousins, phytoplankton, provide the Earth with an oxygen-devoid “Dead Zone” as large as New and other marine protected areas for recreation, C 6,562 ft y 2,000 m oxygen essential to our survival. Jersey is formed and causes severe impacts on inspiration, and a chance to experience the e r te the Gulf’s marine life. wonders that the ocean holds. n o 8,858 ft M 2,700 m 2 MONTEREY BAY AQUARIUM RESEARCH INSTITUTE; USGS; SPACE IMAGING RELIEF IMAGE BY JOHN AMOS, SKYTRUTH NPS SRC PHOTO BY JOHN BROOKS

OCEAN EXPLORATION IN THE DEEP SEA PUERTO RICO TRENCH GULF STREAM-CHARLESTON BUMP GEORGES BANK Living on the edge of an active plate boundary The North Atlantic’s heating system New England’s fishing heritage Ocean exploration is an exciting endeavor. It attracts a diversity of imagining. Throughout the history of ocean exploration, key 10 11 12 scientists: biologists, archaeologists, engineers, ocean educators, and individuals have helped bring the most remote ocean realms to oceanographers. Modern technology and equipment enable them to light. Each of these seafaring adventurers contributed uniquely to The Puerto Rico Trench is the deepest place Salinity, temperature, oxygen, light, nutrients, Just off the coast of New England lies Georges explore the ocean’s greatest depths leading to discoveries the field of oceanography, making it their life’s mission to unravel in the Atlantic Ocean, plunging more than Caribbean and other environmental factors define ocean Bank, a shallow, sediment-covered plateau of bizarre species and ecosystems—many beyond our wildest the mysteries of the seas. five miles below sea level. Lying about 75 habitats in the pelagic realm above the seafloor. bigger than . Georges Bank has PuertoPuerto RicoRico Plate Mona Cold Warm miles north of the island, this long, narrow These factors are greatly influenced by the Gulf played a key role in New England’s rich cultural DR. DR. BALLARD DR. PETER AUSTER Rift Bahamas gash in the seafloor extends to the east for Stream—a current of very warm, salty water that heritage and was once one of the world’s most Forever changing the realm of Marine biologist Dr. Sylvia Earle, Dr. Robert Ballard, one of the world’s Dr. Peter Auster, Science Director for shelf Bank ocean exploration, Captain Jacques sometimes dubbed "Her Deepness," most famous ocean explorers best the National Undersea Research nearly 1,100 miles. The region remains originates in the Gulf of Mexico, flows northward productive fishing grounds. Georges Bank Cousteau, co-inventor in of the is an ambassador for the world’s known for his discovery of the Center, University of Connecticut, is poorly understood, largely because its along the East Coast of the United States, and supported a lucrative fishery for Atlantic cod and “Aqua-Lung,” oceans. As one in 1985, an ecologist and tremendous depth makes it difficult to study. ultimately mixes with the cold waters of the halibut for over 400 years, but as bottom- the first modern of the best- revolutionized conservation Even remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and Mona North North Atlantic. In some places the Gulf Stream trawling technology improved, fishermen became SCUBA gear, known marine undersea biologist whose other deep-sea research tools have not been American encounters seamounts and other obstacles in its very efficient—sometimes catching as many cod provided an scientists, she exploration research focus is Block able to reach the bottom of the trench, yet path. The Charleston Bump, a submerged area of in an hour as older boats could catch in a unparalleled has led more through the marine fishes and Plate inspiration for than 60 use of ROVs. their habitat. He recent exploration cruises and mapping rocky outcroppings and cliffs, rises high enough season. Bottom-trawling also damaged critical above the seafloor to interfere with the Gulf deep-sea coral and sponge habitats. Many many of today’s expeditions During one of has participated projects have begun to unravel the mystery. Charleston Bump greatest marine worldwide, his 100 deep- in hundreds of The Trench began to form about 70 million PUERTO Stream’s flow. This interaction of seafloor and once-bountiful Georges Bank fisheries have yet scientists. clocking over sea expeditions dives using years ago, as the North American and current causes turbulence and that to recover from large-scale overfishing, but Cousteau revolutionized the way 7,000 hours underwater. She also in 1977, he discovered hydrothermal occupied submersibles and ROVs. Dr. Caribbean tectonic plates started to grind RICO enhances plankton growth, attracting small fish federal fisheries regulations aim to ensure humans view the underwater holds numerous diving records. She vents and their unique life-forms. Auster studies the role that marine past each other along the Bunce Fault system. TRENCH who in turn attract larger predators like recovery and future sustainability. Now partially world. Through countless books, walked untethered on the sea floor Dr. Ballard’s life mission is to explore protected areas can play in swordfish, sailfish, and marlin. One of the most protected from fishing, Oceanographer Canyon is films, and TV series he shared his at a greater depth than any other the deep sea and to educate students conservation and sustainable use of Named for a pioneering geophysicist, Dr. passion for the ocean. Cousteau’s human being yet still manages to and the general public about his work marine biological diversity. NOAA Elizabeth Bunce, this fault system is similar Bunce sensational discoveries in this region was the carved 6,600 feet deep into the Bank’s southern adventurous spirit and devotion to find magic in every step of ocean through the JASON Foundation for named him an Environmental Hero to the San Andreas Fault in California. Fault 2002 sighting of the non-native red lionfish, edge. Too steep to trawl, the canyon’s rocky the sea continue to inspire new discovery. Education and Immersion Presents. for the Year 2000 for his ecologic Because Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Pterois volitans, a Pacific species with highly outcroppings provide places where deep-sea exploration. research at the Stellwagen Bank Islands lie on this active plate boundary, -27,395 ft. venomous spines. Beyond influencing the corals and sponges can attach, creating habitat National Marine Sanctuary. Area of or 5.2 miles distribution of marine life, the warm Gulf Stream for many other species of invertebrates and fish. tsunami-causing earthquakes and submarine landslide JACQUES COUSTEAU - MEDFORD TAYLOR/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC IMAGE COLLECTION ROBERT BALLARD - PRIIT VESILIND/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC IMAGE COLLECTION landslides are a real threat to nearly four waters can also affect climate in Western Europe SYLVIA EARLE - JAMES A. SUGAR/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC IMAGE COLLECTION PETER AUSTER - NATIONAL UNDERSEA RESEARCH CENTER, UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT million people. FALSE-COLOR IMAGE BY DR. URI TEN BRINK, U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, WOODS HOLE SCIENCE CENTER. INSTITUTE FOR MARINE REMOTE SENSING (IMARS), COLLEGE OF MARINE SCIENCE, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA and feed hurricanes that strike the Gulf Coast. FREDERICK WILLIAM WALLACE/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC IMAGE COLLECTION