Running Hot & Cold
To its natives, Iceland is a mystical island, peopled with huldufólk—hidden folk, or elves. Some ecologists may be inclined to believe in at least a certain kind of Icelandic magic, the kind that resulted in the remarkable Hengill region, a landscape coursing with crystalline streams that flow at dramatically different temperatures.
Oceans Under Seige
The North Pacific Ocean gyre is massive, made up of four currents that move in a clockwise direction around an area of 20 million square kilometers (7.7 million square miles). Similar in nature to the effects of a whirlpool, ocean gyres draw floating or suspended material into the area, much of which is man-made plastic.