The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake was an undersea earthquake that occurred at 00:58:53 UTC December 26, 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. The earthquake triggered a series of devastating tsunamis along the coasts of most landmasses bordering the Indian Ocean, killing more than 225,000 people in eleven countries, and inundating coastal communities with waves up to 30 meters (100 feet). It was one of the deadliest natural disasters in history. Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand were hardest hit.With a magnitude of between 9.1 and 9.3, it is the second largest earthquake ever recorded on a seismograph. This earthquake had the longest duration of faulting ever observed, between 8.3 and 10 minutes. It caused the entire planet to vibrate as much as 1 cm (0.5 inches) and triggered other earthquakes as far away as Alaska.The disaster is known by the scientific community as the Great Sumatra-Andaman earthquake, and is also known as the Asian Tsunami and the Boxing Day Tsunami. The tsunami occurred exactly one year after the 2003 Bam earthquake and exactly two years before the 2006 Hengchun earthquake.The plight of the many affected people and countries prompted a widespread humanitarian response. In all, the worldwide community donated more than $7 billion (2004 U.S. dollars) in humanitarian aid.

"Divers have filmed this mud before," said Mr. Pauly, who in 1998 wrote a seminal research paper that coined the term "fishing down the food web" to describe how commercial fishing is depleting the world's oceans. "What was not known before was that you could see these mud trails from space. I was flabbergasted by it."

For the first time, scientists have shown that carbon dioxide emissions are making oceans more acidic, and that those acidic conditions are affecting fish - including salmon and king crabs. While they had predicted some of these consequences, this is the first time that it's been demonstrated in the real world.

Major declines in large sharks along the U.S. coast have in turn triggered declines in shellfish and reduced water quality, proof that the ocean's food web is collapsing, a groundbreaking new study reveals.

Wiping out nearly all the world's sharks is leading to collapse of ocean food web and producing expected impacts like loss of shellfish and reducing water quality a new study has found. Whooops, transforming the Earth w out a clue as to what we're doing.

Welcome to West Side Photography web site and photo gallery. We feature photography from the West side of Los Angeles - scenic views, architecture, people, animals, birds, pictures of the beach, ocean sunsets and more. Our current exhibition West Side Beach Birds features photos of seagulls and other sea birds walking, flying, fighting for food.