NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.

Support for this project was provided by National Aeronautics and Space Administration Contract No. NASW-96013, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Contract No. 50-DKNA-6-90040, Stennis Space Center Order No. NS-7426, Environmental Protection Agency Grant No. X-82821401, Department of Transportation Order No. DTRS56-00-P-70077, U.S. Geological Survey Cooperative Agreement No. 00HQAG0204, and Department of the Army Order No. DACA89-99-M-0147. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the sponsors.

Cover images, left to right: (1) Landsat 7 image of coral reefs at Plantantion Key, Florida, formed from buildups of calcium carbonate deposited from the skeletal remains of anthozoan cnidarians; (2) view of Santa Barbara, California, toward the northeast (with the Goleta Valley in the foreground and snow-capped Mount Abel along the skyline), generated from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission and an enhanced Landsat satellite image; and (3) composite of two images from the Spaceborne Imaging Radar C/X-Band synthetic aperture radar flown on the space shuttle, showing two large ocean eddies at the northeast edge of the sea ice pack in the Weddell Sea, off Antarctica. SOURCE: See <http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/cgi-bin>.

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