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More sharks than ever are swimming along the East Coast, federal researchers announced this week, amid a busy summer in which a record number of the fish have attacked North Carolina beachgoers. Scientists with the National Oceanographic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) captured and tagged 2,835 sharks in waters from Florida to North Carolina in 2015, up from 1,831 in 2012 -- the last year the survey was completed. Scientists recorded the length, sex, age and location of each of the sharks caught. The survey has been ongoing for 29 years. Lisa Natanson, a scientist at the Narragansett Laboratory of NOAA Fisheries’...

If a 9.0 earthquake were to strike along California's sparsely populated North Coast, it would have a catastrophic ripple effect. A giant tsunami created by the quake would wash away coastal towns, destroy U.S. 101 and cause $70 billion in damage over a large swath of the Pacific coast. More than 100 bridges would be lost, power lines toppled and coastal towns isolated. Residents would have as few as 15 minutes notice to flee to higher ground, and as many as 10,000 would perish. For years, scientists believed the largest earthquake the area could produce was magnitude 7.5. But scientists...

A magnitude 6.9 earthquake occurred off the coast of Eureka in Northern California on Sunday night, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. The temblor hit at 10:18 p.m. 50 miles west of Eureka in Humboldt County. According to the USGS, the earthquake was felt over a large swath of the North Coast as well as other parts of Northern California. …

Heavy rains hit Israel Monday, causing floods and one serious injury. The coastal plain and western Negev were hardest hit, seeing 20-40 centimeters (8-15 inches) of precipitation. Flooding was reported in the southern coastal plain in Sderot, Rishon Lezion, Ashdod and Ashkelon, among other locales. In the western Negev town of Ofakim, the flooding caused a wall to collapse, seriously injuring a 56-year-old man. He was knocked out, falling with his head in a puddle. The man was transported in critical condition to Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba. Israel is not expecting additional heavy rain over the next few days.

As reported earlier, Pakistan and India were both shaken by a strong 7.8 magnitude earthquake with numerous aftershocks. While the damage and the casualties from the quake are not fully known yet although according to Raza news agency the latest death toll is at 45, one quite stunning development has emerged, quite literally, out of the sea. As Pakistani's The News reports, an entire island emerged off the country's Gwadar coast in the aftermath of the quake. "According to DIG Gwadar Moazzam Jah, the island's altitude is 20 to 40 feet and width around 100 feet. Talking to Geo news,...

North Korea seen moving mid-range missile to east coast: reports SEOUL | Wed Apr 3, 2013 9:13pm EDT (Reuters) - North Korea has moved what appears to be a mid-range Musudan missile to its east coast, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said on Thursday, quoting multiple government sources privy to intelligence from U.S. and South Korean authorities. It was not clear if the missile was mounted with a warhead or whether the North was planning to fire it or was just putting it on display as a show of force, one South Korean government source was quoted as saying.

For the entire 8 day duration of Operation Pillar of Defense, there was one major geopolitical player who had been largely quiet and certainly absent from the scene: the same player whose unflinching position over the Syria conflict has so far prevented any intervention in the civil war torn country: Russia. The same Russia which has a military base in the Syrian port city of Tarsus, and thus in its own eyes, a very substantial "national interest" role to play in the middle east, one that is certainly opposing that of the US and the pro-NATO forces, a tension that...

DAUPHIN ISLAND, Ala. — Even in the off season, the pastel beach houses lining a skinny strip of sand here are a testament to the good life. They are also a monument to the generosity of the federal government. The western end of this Gulf Coast island has proved to be one of the most hazardous places in the country for waterfront property. Since 1979, nearly a dozen hurricanes and large storms have rolled in and knocked down houses, chewed up sewers and water pipes and hurled sand onto the roads. Yet time and again, checks from Washington have allowed...

While Sandy pummeled the East Coast Monday night, Michelle Obama was soliciting campaign contributions from folks affected by the storm. The following was sent at 7:44 PM via email to voters in North Carolina and Virginia just around the time Sandy made landfall: From: Michelle Obama > Subject: I know we've asked a lot of you, but we're almost there To: Date: Monday, October 29, 2012, 7:44 PM Friend -- There's still time to meet Barack and get two of the best seats in the house on Election Night. If you make a donation today, you'll be automatically entered to...

In the course of a couple of hours Thursday, the Romney campaign sent out unmistakable signals that it intends to fight the guerilla warfare of a presidential campaign with a new aggressiveness and combativeness. The first signal came in Boston, where top Obama adviser David Axelrod organized an anti-Romney event on the steps of the Massachusetts state house. The event, which Team Obama wanted to keep under wraps until shortly before it happened, was to feature remarks from Axelrod and Democratic state officeholders who would attack Romney's record as governor from 2003 to 2007. But it didn't work out as...

Offshore drilling has been pushed further onto Virginia's horizon. U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar on Tuesday announced the oil and gas leasing plan for 2012-2017, and Virginia did not make the list. The proposed program includes 15 potential lease sales, with 12 in the Gulf of Mexico and three off Alaska. Virginia's lease sale was scheduled for 2011, but the federal government delayed it until at least 2017 after the April-July 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the worst offshore spill in U.S. history. Gov. Bob McDonnell, who wanted to use the millions that...

"The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger, and strive with might and main for mischief through the land is: execution, or crucifixion, or the cutting off of hands and feet from opposite sides, or exile from the land: that is their disgrace in this world, and a heavy punishment is theirs in the Hereafter." -- Qur'an 5:33 It looks as if these brothers' apparent support for the Christian Gbagbo over the Muslim Ouattara constituted "waging war against Allah and His Messenger." "Brothers crucified by Ouattara forces in Ivory Coast," from Barnabas Aid, June 8 (thanks...

FORCES loyal to president-elect Alassane Ouattara have advanced into Ivory Coast's commercial capital Abidjan, as aid agencies said at least 800 people were killed in a massacre outside the city. The Republican Forces control more than 90 per cent of Abidjan, said militia spokesman Meite Sindou yesterday. Gunfire continued in the Plateau district, the site of the presidential palace. The Red Cross said the massacre took place in the western town of Duekoue as Mr Ouattara's troops moved towards Abidjan to try to oust incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo. Advertisement: Story continues below The massacre occurred on March 29 and is...

FYI for Freepers on the West Coast only... Possible Earthquake on the West Coast starting Saturday to the following Saturday.

Well, I'm slightly stumped. I lost the URL address where I found this (on Flickr - I just kept the URL for the picture itself). It's a nice sea arch, on the Island of Capri I think, but I'm not sure. So heck, if anyone can confirm that's where it's located, knock yourself out. Click for 2x. BONUS: I can't link to these in the grand tradition of the Geology Picture of the Week, but you can peruse them and save any of them that you like. Some of the lava lake surface pictures are very abstract. Nyiragongo lava lake,...

NEW ORLEANS -- A White House appointee says preserving a Gulf Coast ecosystem damaged by decades of erosion and months of crude oil that gushed from a deep-sea well off Louisiana will be an enormous undertaking, the "grandaddy" of restoration projects. "I have been involved in many ecosystem restoration projects, but this is the grandaddy of them all," said John Hankinson, a veteran of restoration projects in Florida. Hankinson was appointed in October as executive director of the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force, a group that will recommend how to use the heavy fines likely to confront energy company...

Since I have not managed to post every single week this week, I'm trying to finish the year strong. Hope you agree. Click for full size. Cave of Crystals Arizona Butte "Library of Ages" (Montana de Oro State Park, California)

Since I missed last week, here's a few places around the world of interest. Kamchatka volcanoes from the International Space Station (click for 2x) Go here for an image identifying the peaks: Kamchatka volcanoes Salt pond at Laguna Ojo de Liebre (Baja California). Click for 10x! (Laguna Ojo de Liebre is the gray whale calving area biosphere reserve.) Salt Point State Park, California (Patrick Smith Photography). Click for 2x.

This one might be really easy, because I imagine if you've seen this one you wouldn't forget where it is. But that would mean somebody actually saw this (or at least a picture of it indicating where it is). Anyway, it's one of the most picturesque sea arches I've ever seen. The other arch (bottom 2 pictures) is located nearby. Click all for full-size.

I'll do this a bit differently; click the image and go to where you can click on a bigger version. Text accompanying the first: Etretat is well known for its cliffs, including a famous natural arch, which some call "The needle's eye." These cliffs and the beach next to them, attracted many artists (Eugène Boudin, Gustave Courbet, Claude Monet). Étretat was the birthplace of Elie Halévy (1870-1937), philosopher and historian. In the French coast in the department of Seine-Maritime, Upper Normandy, are the spectacular cliffs of Etretat, only two hours from Paris by car. These are two views of the...