Icebreaker, Antarctic
U.S.S. Atka stands off Crater Hill on McMurdo Sound in mid-March; she kept channels open for evacuation of the last summer residents.
Lightning at Huntington Beach, Ohio
While at Huntington Beach in Bay Village, Ohio, Within a minute of this shot, the storm unleashed its fury on the beach.
Cavern Explorer, Tennessee
Underground you can still be the first person on Earth to take the small step, or the giant leap. This Tennessee cavern, christened Indianapolis by its premiere explorer, was only discovered last year.
Smith's Green-Eyed Gecko
his female Smith's green-eyed gecko chose to live on one of the chalets next to my home, taking advantage of the insects attracted by the lights at night.
Sei Whale Skull, Chile
Inland ice fields give way along Chile's coast to a maze of islands and fjords. The weather here is rarely calm. On Byron Island, the skull of a sei whale rests in a tidal creek—until the next storm.
Ivanhoe Reservoir, Los Angeles
In 2007, high levels of bromate—a carcinogen formed when bromide and chlorine react with sunlight—were found in Los Angeles’s Ivanhoe Reservoir. Today three million black plastic balls help deflect UV rays.
Clownfish and Bubble-Tipped Anemone
Bleached by high water temperatures, this bubble-tipped anemone is largely devoid of the algae that provide color as well as energy from photosynthesis. Though stressed, it will likely survive and continue to serve its clownfish.
—Premnas biaculeatus (spine-cheek clownfish); Entacmaea quadricolor; Papua New Guinea
Sailboats, Turag River, Bangladesh
Graceful as butterflies, boats glide past rice fields on the meandering Turag River near Dacca, Bangladesh. Hundreds of watery highways interlace the heartland of this low-lying South Asian country.
Chicago City Lights
Chicago at night burns bright under blankets of clouds. Much of the glow escapes from streetlamps, including clear, Victorian-style lamps good for creating atmosphere but poor for harnessing today's extra-bright bulbs.