Imagine how small you might feel in the presence of a huge iceberg like this chunk from the McBride Glacier. At Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve – one of the 24 national park sites in Alaska – you can explore the Alaskan wilderness from sea to summit. True to its name, much of the park is water, meaning kayaks and boats are the main ways to see rugged mountains, dynamic glaciers and wild coastlines. Photo by Sean Neilson, National Park Service.

This stunning underwater oasis is our nation’s newest national monument. Today President Obama designated Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, which is located more than 100 miles southeast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts in the northwest Atlantic Ocean. The monument is home to undersea canyons and mountains, making up fragile and largely pristine deep marine ecosystems that provide a haven for rare and native species as well as important scientific research. The area’s rich biodiversity includes deep sea corals – some of which are found nowhere else on Earth – and endangered whales and sea turtles. Thanks to today’s action, New England’s unique seamounts will be protected for future generations. Photos by NOAA.

In this rare sight, a rainbow (we like to call it a “blob-bow”) brightens the dunes following an afternoon storm at Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve in Colorado. Summer thunderstorms at the park are common and bring cool winds, heavy rain and lightning. When storms approach, be sure to come down off the dunes, as lightning often strikes the dunefield. The electrical current fuses or melts sand particles together, resulting in a “fulgurite” (Latin for lightning rock). Photo by Patrick Myers, National Park Service.