Amazing natural phenomena in the world. The most amazing natural phenomena (20 photos)
20. Lunar rainbow.
We are almost used to the usual rainbow. Lunar rainbow is much more a rare thing than a rainbow seen in daylight. A lunar rainbow can only appear in places with high humidity and only when the moon is almost full. Pictured is a moonlit rainbow at Cumberland Falls in Kentucky.
19. Mirages
Despite their prevalence, mirages always evoke an almost mystical sense of wonder. We all know the reason for the appearance of most mirages - superheated air changes its optical properties, causing light inhomogeneities called mirages.
Halos usually occur when high humidity or severe frost- Previously, the halo was considered a phenomenon from above, and people expected something unusual.
17. Belt of Venus
Interesting optical phenomenon, which occurs when the atmosphere is dusty - an unusual "belt" between the sky and the horizon.
16. Pearl clouds
Unusually high clouds (about 10-12 km), becoming visible at sunset.
15. Northern lights.
Appears when high-energy collisions elementary particles upon impact with the Earth's ionosphere.
14. Colored Moon
When the atmosphere is dusty, high humidity, or for other reasons, the Moon sometimes looks colored. The red moon is especially unusual.
13. Biconvex clouds
An extremely rare phenomenon that appears mainly before a hurricane. Opened just 30 years ago. Also called Mammatus clouds.
12. The fires of St. Elmo.
A fairly common phenomenon caused by increased tension electric field before a thunderstorm, during a thunderstorm, and immediately after. The first witnesses of this phenomenon were sailors who observed the fires of St. Elmo on masts and other vertical pointed objects.
11. Fire whirlwinds.
Often formed during fires - they can also occur over burning haystacks.
10. Mushroom clouds.
Also formed over places with elevated temperature- over forest fires, for example.
9. Light pillars.
The nature of these phenomena is similar to the conditions that cause the appearance of a halo.
8. Diamond dust.
Frozen water droplets that scatter the light of the sun.
7. Fish, frog and other rains.
One of the hypotheses explaining the appearance of such rains is a tornado that sucks out nearby water bodies and carries their contents over long distances.
A phenomenon that occurs when ice crystals fall out of clouds that do not reach the surface of the earth, evaporating along the road.
Hurricane winds with many names. Occurs when moving air masses from the top layers to the bottom.
4. Fire rainbow.
Occurs when the sun's rays pass through high clouds.
3. Green beam.
An extremely rare phenomenon that occurs at sunset or sunrise.
2. Ball lightning.
There are many hypotheses explaining the origin of these phenomena, but none has yet been proven.
1. Optical flares and jets
Discovered only recently due to their short existence (less than a second). Occurs when hurricanes appear.
Previously, people could not explain many natural phenomena and therefore believed in their divine origin. Now, from a scientific point of view, almost any phenomenon can be explained, but many of them still remain very mysterious, majestic and insanely beautiful. Photos of such phenomena, as well as the most unusual places on the ground are waiting for you further.
Vymeobraznye clouds. Such clouds are rare, mainly in tropical latitudes, and are associated with the formation tropical cyclones.
Magic Circles in Namibia. Researchers of the mysterious phenomenon suggest that it is the work of sand termites.
Road of the Giants. As a result of the eruption of an ancient volcano in Northern Ireland, an area appeared that is covered with 40,000 basalt pillars tightly adjacent to each other.
Lenticular clouds. Clouds in the north of the state of Georgia in the USA are a rather rare natural phenomenon.
Lightning Catatumbo. Sparkling flashes over water occur for 140-160 nights a year, 10 hours per night and up to 280 times in one hour.
Red crabs of Christmas Island. Every year, about 43 million land crabs move en masse to the shore of the ocean to lay their eggs. Local authorities block most of the island's roads for a week so as not to interfere with migration.
Great Blue Hole. The gigantic underwater karst funnel off the coast of Belize has a diameter of more than 300 meters and a depth of 124 meters.
Asperatus clouds. Undulatus asperatus, or rough-hilly waves. This type of clouds, which have a rather mystical image, was introduced into the classification relatively recently by the decision of the head of the Society of Cloud Researchers.
Tanzanian Lake Natron. Salt Lake, which is fed by hot springs, is the only place constant breeding of small flamingos.
Spotted lake. Canada's Lake Kliluk is the world's greatest reserve of magnesium sulfate, calcium and sodium.
"Gates of hell" in Turkmenistan. The fire at the gas mine, which broke out due to the awkward actions of researchers in 1971, has not subsided to this day.
Spherical boulders of New Zealand. Under the influence of erosion, boulders with regular rounded outlines emerge from the argillic rocks of the shore.
Flammable ice bubbles. Trapped in the ice of Abraham Lake in Canada, methane bubbles.
Frozen flowers. On the calm waters of lakes and seas, when the surface is just seized by a light crust of ice, in conditions of sharp cooling (about -22 Celsius), crystals appear fresh ice marvelous form.
Mud storms. Mud storms occur when lightning appears in a volcanic plume.
Moving stones of Death Valley. In a deserted American valley, they observe a unique geological phenomenon: fragments of rocks without outside help move on smooth ground, leaving long trails behind them.
underwater circles. Off the coast of Japan, dexterous male pufferfish create perfectly even circles with openwork edges. These works of art are designed to charm and attract females.
Migration of monarch butterflies. Covering thousands of kilometers, dense flocks of butterflies move briskly from Canada towards the southern United States.
Black Sun. Up to 50 thousand starlings huddle in the sky in huge chirping flocks. This phenomenon is also called "murmuring".
Blooming desert. In the years when the rains in Chile are more abundant than usual, the Atacama Desert is covered with flowers and herbs.
Bioluminescent waves on the Maldivian beaches. Some species of phytoplankton have the ability to luminesce.
Rainbow eucalyptus. This is because the eucalyptus sheds its bark in chunks. Each piece of the trunk successively turns blue, purple, orange, and then maroon.
Sardine move. From May to July, schools of billions of sardines move north along the east coast of South Africa.
Our world seems familiar to us, studied up and down, open and explained long ago. A person is torn into distant space, but sometimes nature picks up curious riddles for the “jaded”. Miracles of heaven and earth, phenomena that we have heard about many times, but even with the whole mighty arsenal available modern science, some of the mysteries of nature, humanity is unable to explain. Here are 23 Natural Phenomena You Might Have Heard Of, But Never Experienced.
Lightning Catatumbo
Lightning Catatumbo (Catatumbo) is a natural phenomenon that constantly produces a glow without any sound. Lightning occurs at an altitude of about five kilometers. It happens 140-160 nights a year, at night for 10 hours a day, almost 280 times an hour. This almost constant phenomenon occurs at the mouth of the Catatumbo River, where it flows into Lake Maracaibo, a large brackish lake in Venezuela.
Maracaibo - largest lake in South America, its area is 13210 km ?, it is also one of the oldest lakes on Earth (according to some estimates - the second in antiquity). Almost a quarter of the population of Venezuela lives on the shores of the lake. The basin of Lake Maracaibo has large oil reserves, as a result of which the lake serves as a source of wealth for Venezuela. The Catatumbo lightning phenomenon is believed to be one of the major ozone generators on Earth. Approximately 1,176,000 lightning strikes are visible annually at distances up to 400 km. Winds blowing from the Andes mountains cause thunderstorms and lightning strikes in the atmosphere in these wetlands rich in methane, which is much lighter than air. Local environmentalists believe that this area of the country should be under the protection of UNESCO, since these lightnings are unique phenomenon and the largest source of recovery of the planet's ozone layer.
Fish rain in Honduras
Rain of animals is a relatively rare meteorological phenomenon, although such cases have been recorded in many countries throughout human history. But for Honduran Folklore, this is a regular phenomenon. Every year between May and July, a dark cloud appears in the sky, lightning flashes, thunder rumbles, a strong wind blows and heavy rain pours for 2-3 hours. As soon as it stops, hundreds of live fish remain on the ground.
People pick it up like mushrooms and take it home to roast it. Since 1998, the festival "Festival de la Lluvia de Peces" (Fish Rain Festival) has been held here. It is celebrated in the city of Yoro, department de Yoro, Honduras. One hypothesis for the occurrence of the phenomenon is that strong winds lift fish into the air from the water several kilometers in height, since the water caribbean off the northern coast of Honduras abound in fish and other seafood. However, no one has yet witnessed how this happens exactly.
Moroccan goats grazing in the trees
Morocco is the only country in the world where, due to the lack of grass, goats climb trees and graze there in herds, feasting on the fruits of argan, a tree whose nuts are used to make fragrant oil. Such an amazing picture can only be seen on the High and Middle Atlas, as well as in the Sousse valley and on Atlantic coast between Essaouira and Agadir. In fact, shepherds herd goats, moving from tree to tree. And when the goats leave the tree, they collect nuts under it, which are not digested by the stomach of the goats. However, with such a global consumption of argans, every year they, and, accordingly, less and less oil from nuts are collected. At the same time, this oil is believed to contain anti-aging trace elements. But people don't want to use nut oil that has been in goat feces for rejuvenation. Therefore, a company is now underway to declare the place where argan grows as a reserve.
Red Rains of Kerala
From June 25 to September 23 over the territory of Kerala, India, there were occasional red rains. Initially, it was believed that the color of the rain is the result of a hypothetical meteorite explosion.
Later, when history repeated itself on March 4, 2006, and they were able to collect rainwater samples, scientists concluded that it was colored by "Rhodophyceae" - red algae, inhabitants of the Godfrey Louie spring in Kerala.
The longest wave in the world is in Brazil
Twice a year - between February and March in Brazil, at the mouth of the Amazon, the oncoming tide of salty, heavier water of the Atlantic Ocean meets with the river's own course and pushes it back, violently rolling up the river channel, resulting in powerful counter waves that reach a height of up to six meters.
This phenomenon can last for half an hour, and it is called a vice. The boiling wall of water rushes with a terrible roar at a speed of 25 km / h upstream, rising 3000 km from the mouth. At the same time, water floods and erodes the coast, and its noise spreads for several kilometers. In one of the local Indian dialects, "amazuni" means "stormy onslaught of water clouds." Perhaps this is where the name of the Amazon River comes from.
Such a wave is a surfer's dream. Since 1999, relevant competitions have been held in San Domingo, although such "swims" can be dangerous, since both pieces of coastal soil and trees are found in the water. Nevertheless, the record - 37 minutes on a pororok (12.5 km) was set by the Brazilian Picuruta Salazar.
Black Sun of Denmark
Spring in Denmark happens amazing phenomenon: more than a million European starlings (sturnus vulgaris) flock from all around in huge flocks about an hour before sunset.
The Danes call it the Black Sun and can be seen in early spring throughout the swamps of western Denmark, between March and mid-April.
Starlings migrate from the south and spend the day in the meadows gathering food, and in the evening, after collective pirouettes in the sky, they rest in the reeds for the night.
Fire rainbow in Idaho
Such an unusual rainbow is one of the rarest atmospheric phenomena. Scientifically, it is called the "circumhorizontal arc" (circumhorizontal arc). This rainbow appears as a result of light passing through light, high-lying cirrus clouds and only when the sun is very high in the sky - at least 20,000 feet and more than 58 degrees above the horizon. In addition, the hexagonal ice crystals that make up the cirrus clouds must be thick sheets with their faces parallel to the ground. Light enters the vertical face of the crystal and exits the bottom side, being refracted in the same way as when light passes through a prism.
crawling stones
This mysterious phenomenon, taking place in Death Valley (California, USA), has been disturbing the minds of scientists for more than a decade. Huge boulders themselves crawl along the bottom of the dry Lake Racetrack Playa. No one touches them, but they crawl and crawl. Nobody saw them move. And yet they stubbornly crawl, as if alive, occasionally turning over from side to side, leaving behind traces stretching for tens of meters. Sometimes stones write out such unusual and complex lines that they often turn over, making “somersaults” in the process of movement.
annular eclipse
With this phenomenon, the Moon is too far from the Earth to completely cover the Sun. It looks like this: the Moon passes over the disk of the Sun, but it turns out to be smaller than it in diameter, and cannot completely hide it. Such eclipses are of almost no interest to scientists.
edited news VENDETTA - 20-04-2011, 11:38
Nature is amazing and multifaceted. Some of its phenomena are not amenable to any scientific theories and explanations. One can only admire what he sees.
Northern Lights
The northern lights are an unusual glow that is formed due to the interaction of the upper atmosphere with the charged particles of the sun. The higher its activity, the greater the likelihood of radiance. An amazing spectacle can only be observed at high latitudes, near the poles. The duration of the northern lights is from two to three hours to several days.
Falling stars
At night, in clear weather, it is often possible to observe luminous points quickly moving across the sky. And although they are called shooting stars, they are just small stones, particles of matter. A bright flash occurs when they invade the earth's atmosphere. At certain periods of the year, meteors fall in a continuous stream. This phenomenon is called "star rain".
Ball lightning
One of the most mysterious natural phenomena. Such lightning has the shape of a ball, but sometimes its outlines can resemble a pear, a drop or a mushroom. The color is most often warm shades - orange, yellow, red, but it can also be black and transparent. The sizes of ball lightning also vary in a fairly wide range - from 5-6 cm to several meters. Ball lightning is characterized by unpredictable behavior and a short duration - usually only a few seconds.
Halo
Halo is a common phenomenon. A circle of light around the sun at mid-latitudes can occur every few days. The appearance of a halo has, unlike many other unusual phenomena, scientific explanation. The circle of light is formed as a result of the refraction of the rays of the sun in the ice crystals that are contained in the clouds. In addition to luminous circles, "false suns" can appear on the sides of the sun.
mother-of-pearl clouds
Mother-of-pearl clouds are an extremely rare phenomenon. They form at an altitude of 15-25 km in the cold parts of the stratosphere. These thin transparent clouds, painted in mother-of-pearl colors, cannot be confused with anything else. You can watch them in northern countries either just after sunset or just before sunrise.
biconvex clouds
These clouds are often shaped like a flying saucer. They look like a biconvex lens. Often formed before a hurricane. Scientists believe that unusual shape clouds is explained by ice crystals, which are formed under the influence of external factors(e.g. emissions from an overflying aircraft).
Fish and frog rain
Precipitation from living creatures is not such a rare occurrence. In ancient times, it was explained simply - as a gift or punishment from the gods. Modern scientists tend to see the cause in tornadoes or tornadoes, which first lift living creatures into the air, and then carry them over long distances. But it is not clear why frogs and fish fall in a strictly limited area.
Some natural phenomena are amazing meteorological and climatic phenomena that occur naturally in different time and at different scales, and each of them is unique in its own way. This material presents the ice "flowers" of the Arctic, Catatumbo lightning, the Pororoka tidal wave in the Amazon, etc.
This amazing phenomenon occurs in Arctic waters and occurs when there is a large difference between the temperature of ocean water and the surrounding atmosphere. Water vapor, in contact with cold air, cools sharply and condenses again on the surface, but already in the form of crystals several centimeters high.
Extremely rare lenticular clouds, which are also called lenticular clouds, form a kind of cap of constant streams. humid air over the top of the mountain. Due to the continuous process of condensation of water vapor (vertical movement), the clouds remain motionless, no matter how strong the wind blows.
3. Blue lava, Indonesia
The Kawah Ijen volcano is located in East Java, Indonesia. During the day, this is the most ordinary volcano with bright red lava, but with the onset of night, the lava erupted by it acquires a mystical blue color. This mysterious flicker is a product of burning a large number sulfur found in lava. Most of the bottom of the crater of the volcano is occupied by a huge lake, above which 3-5-meter tongues of blue flame rise - it consists of almost pure sulfuric acid.
4 Red Crab Migration, Christmas Island
The ground red crab (Gecarcoidea natalis) is found only on Christmas Island in Australia and is the main attraction of this island. Each year, during the 20 days of seasonal migration, about 150 million red earth crabs move towards the coast to spawn.
5. Great Blue Hole, Belize
The Great Blue Hole is in the very center coral reef Lighthouse. The diameter of this sinkhole is approximately 305 meters and its depth is approximately 120 meters. Formed by erosion processes in those ancient times, when the level of the seabed here was much lower, this "hole" became place of worship for numerous divers.
6. Ice "hair"
As a result of the chemical action of bacteria, plant branches acquire such a extraordinary property: the water released on their surface freezes in a very bizarre way. This white fluff, with long, parallel strands, is similar to cotton fibers, but it melts in the hands.
A hazy rainbow (white rainbow) appears when illuminated sunbeams a small mist consisting of water droplets much smaller than in a normal rainbow. The disappearance of colors occurs due to the diffraction of light in small drops - multi-colored beams of light are combined into one white beam.
8. Lightning Catatumbo, Venezuela
Above the place where the Catatumbo River flows into Lake Maracaibo, there is a mysterious natural phenomenon - at an altitude of about five kilometers, the sky is pierced electrical discharges without the usual soundtrack. Lightning appears almost every night and lasts about 10 hours. Scientists explain this natural phenomenon in different ways, but there is no consensus yet.
When volcanoes erupt, the friction of ash particles creates a gigantic electrostatic charge that can cause such an electrical storm from time to time.
10. Whirlpool Maelström, Norway
The Maelström whirlpool is located in the Norwegian Sea between the islands of Ferø and Moskenesøy, and is a system of eddies in the strait. Formed under the influence of multidirectional tidal flows of water, these funnels may well drag a swimmer or even a small boat under the water.
11. Lake Natron, Tanzania
The water in Lake Natron in northern Tanzania has such a high PH level (9-10.5) that it can quickly cover any object that gets into its waters with a layer of salts. The temperature of the water reaches 50°C, and it itself has a dark red color. The caustic environment of the lake is a barrier to predators, so its numerous islets have been chosen for nesting flamingos. Here they number up to 2.5 million individuals.
12. Underwater waterfalls, Mauritius island
Of course, these are not real waterfalls. A stunningly beautiful illusion is created by streams of sand flowing into the sea.
13. Colored rocks of Zhangye Danxia, China
These amazing colored reliefs in the Chinese province of Gansu are the result of the deposits of red sandstone and other mineral inclusions over millions of years.
14 Spider Invasion Pakistan
Myriads of spiders climbed trees during floods in Pakistan. When the water subsided, these trees remained completely covered with thick cobwebs, resembling ghosts.
15. Horsetail Fire Falls, California
The waterfall "Horse's tail" with a height of 650 meters is located in national park Yosemite (California, USA). Just a few days in February, you can observe a rare phenomenon - the reflection of the rays of the setting sun in the falling stream of the waterfall, when it turns fiery orange.
16. Black Sun, Denmark
In the spring, millions of starlings from all over Europe gather in the skies over Denmark, creating this mesmerizing spectacle - gigantic moving black figures in the blue sky. The inhabitants of Denmark call these "dances" of flocks of starlings "black sun".
17. Rainbow Eucalyptus, Philippines
The rainbow eucalyptus is the brightest tree on the planet; grows in the Philippines, Indonesia, Guinea. The change in color of the eucalyptus trunk occurs due to the gradual exfoliation of the bark in the form of narrow strips. Renewal of the upper layer of the bark occurs annually. Initially, the bark has a bright green color. Then, when ripe, it darkens and acquires blue, purple, orange and maroon tones.
18. "Blood Falls" Taylor Glacier, Antarctica
Taylor Glacier is located in Antarctica near the McMurdo Sound in the so-called Dry Valleys. It is amazing in that blood-red water flows out of it, forming a natural phenomenon called the “bloody waterfall”. Scientists have found that the cause is unique microorganisms that live in underground lake located in a glacier at a depth of 400 meters. These microorganisms, in the absence of nutrients and solar energy familiar to living organisms, have adapted to feed on sulfates, which are sufficient in the salty environment of the lake. As a result of unique reactions, sulfates turn into sulfites (iron), which, when interacting with oxygen, are oxidized, giving the water a red color.
In conjunction with northern lights, these creations of geothermal activity look like a surreal painting.
20. Blooming Desert, Chile
Once every few years, usually after heavy rains, the lifeless Atacama Desert is covered with a carpet of greenery and flowers.
In appearance, this creature resembles an organic mass enclosed in a piece rock. Thus, the biofiltering mollusk easily merges with environment providing a peaceful life.
22. Underwater crop circles, Japan
The authors of these underwater crop circles are male pufferfish, better known as pufferfish. The geometrically correct patterns that cover the ocean floor around the coast of Japan are drawn on the sand by countless oscillatory movements of the fins of these amazing creatures.
23. Monarch butterflies migration, USA, Mexico
Long-distance migration is one of the most interesting features butterflies of this species. Monarchs living in North America, every autumn they go for wintering to Mexico, Florida, Cuba and the Bahamas, covering a distance of about 3,000 km. On their way, these myriads of butterflies create an absolutely unimaginable sight in the sky.
This is a rather rare occurrence, however, is not fiction or legend. When several conditions coincide, the edge of the sun turns green for a few moments before disappearing below the horizon.
25. Tidal wave Pororoka, Amazon
Twice a year, when the Atlantic tide meets the flow of river water at the mouth of the Amazon, the longest wave on Earth is created. The name Pororoka in the local Tupi dialect means "rattling water". A seething stream about 4 meters high rushes with a terrible noise. At the same time, the wave floods and damages the banks, uprooting trees, destroying residential buildings, and carrying away bridges. You can learn about the approach of Pororoka by noise in half an hour. This phenomenon attracts many surfers from all over the world.
