Did you know that estuaries are interconnected with the world-ocean and major systems on Earth?
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Estuaries are places where the planet's major environments of land, ocean, rivers, and the atmosphere come together. Estuaries are found all-over the planet, mostly in the form of salt water marshes and mangrove swamps. Estuaries, no matter where they are located on Earth, have shared characteristics. They all have a semi-enclosed body of water has a free connection to the open sea and fresh water derived from land drainage. The North American shoreline is ringed with estuaries.
There are twenty-eight estuarine reserve sites in the United States that make up a system of estuaries stewarded by NOAA's National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERRS). These reserves are located in 22 of the 35 U.S coastal states and protect over 1.3 million acres of coastal land and waters, from Alaska to Puerto Rico.
You are invited to visit these estuarine reserves and their Education Coordinators to explore and study our nation's estuaries — where the rivers meet the sea.
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