- Incredible Phenomena: From volcanoes over halos up to Penitential Rice and Blood Falls
- Desert roses, rainbow eucalyptus and flocks of starlings: The impressive nature
- Conclusion – our nature is so beautiful and fascinating
There are numerous incredible natural phenomena on our planet. Some of them are hard to believe. We present you 10 amazing phenomena as well as the science behind Before.
Phenomenon 1: Volcanic lightning
The first phenomenon are the so-called volcanic lightning. As the name suggests, these are lightning bolts produced by volcanoes. If these break out, they can sometimes thousands of flashes ignite.
Scientists have a concrete answer to the question of what causes volcanic lightning not yet. A possible and common thesis is that the ash during an eruption is very high friction picks up. This in turn could result in static electricity causing lightning.
Researchers are trying to figure out why lightning doesn’t always occur during an eruption. Conditions that presumably play a role are those intensity of the outbreak and the presence of water.
Phenomenon 2: Pelé’s hair
Volcanoes produce other fascinating phenomena. One of them is “Pele’s hair“. It refers to long, wafer-thin glass wires. These arise when the wind single lava droplets captured from a volcanic eruption. He can then stretch the long glass wires out of it.
The so-called strands can up to three meters become long. That was named on Hawaii observed phenomenon after the Goddess of Volcanoes, Pelé. The lava threads can mainly be found at the edge of lava lakes.
The phenomenon also exists in Norway and Iceland. Here it is known as “witch hair”. Larger quantities can also be found in other lava lakes such as Erta Alé in Ethiopia or Masaya in Nicaragua.
Phenomenon 3: Halos
With the Halo becomes one round light phenomenon marked in the sky. the colorful or bright circle of light usually lights up around the sun.
In order for halos to form, a special composition of ice crystals required in the clouds. By reflection and refraction The halo is then created by light on the ice crystals floating in the air.
Depending on how big the ice crystals are, how they are oriented and at what angle the sunlight hits them, they can also other visual phenomena such as rings, arches, spots or columns.
Phenomenon 4: Penitent rice
Small ice spikeslocated in great heights form, too penance rice called. You can find them mainly in the high mountains of the tropics and subtropics.
Penitent ice is formed when sunlight converts the ice directly into water vapor. First, the sun’s rays evaporate small indentations on the snow surface. There on this floor more reflected light than elsewhere, they deepen faster than the higher edges.
The snow and ice pyramids can up to 6 meters be high
Phenomenon 5: The Blood Falls
The Blood Falls, too Blood Falls called, can be found in the Antarctic. The huge, brown-red discolorations are found on the face of Taylor Glacier at McMurdo Sound.
The reason for the unusual coloration of the water is its high iron content. As soon as the water gets into the air, the dissolved iron oxidizes. The brown-red color of the background develops. The source grew richer over about 1.5 million years not only with iron from the rocky subsoil, but also with salt.
The Blood Falls are also very interesting for researchers for another reason: the first samples, which were taken directly from the salt lake under the ice, could bacteria be detected. Some of these seem to be related to today’s marine microbes.
Phenomenon 6: Desert Roses
In the desert rose or sand rose is one rose-like formation of gypsum. The material can dry, sandy Places arise that are occasionally flooded.
The gypsum crystals can get through the constant change between wet and dry ideally form between the grains of sand. Together with the sand, the characteristic, leafy structure educated.
Sand roses can grow up to several meters grow up. Often the crystal surfaces of the sand rose are covered with a fine layer of grains of sand; however, grains of sand can also be included.
Phenomenon 7: Rainbow Eucalyptus
the Rainbow Eucalyptus also called rainbow gum. You can find what is probably the most colorful tree in the world in the Philippines and Indonesia to encounter.
The tree gets its striped appearance from the fact that its bark discolored with age and flakes off. The color of the youngest bark is a bright green because it contains a lot of chlorophyll. It then turns purple, then red and finally brown. The reason for the discoloration: the bark loses over time chlorophyll and absorbs tannins.
The rainbow tree can shoot up to four meters in height every year. Its maximum growth height is 60 to 80 meters. Eucalyptus is mainly used for wood production, but eucalyptus oil can also be extracted from the leaves and twigs.
Phenomenon 8: Bright red lake of soda
Up to 140 degrees Celsius it can get hot: Lake Natron in Tanzania. There is a volcano near the lake, which gives it an alkalinity similar to that of pure ammonia.
Conversely, this means that Lake Natron almost uninhabited is. The only inhabitants are the little flamingos, a particularly resistant fish and microbes. The latter ensure that the lake looks red.
Animals that die in the lake end up looking like they’ve been turned to stone. They are then covered with a layer of baking soda and the like coated with chemicals.
Phenomenon 9: Pearlescent Clouds
mother of pearl clouds form very high in the atmosphere, where the air is particularly cold and dry. For their formation, the clouds need a temperature of at least -78 °C. As a rule, you can only see the special clouds near the poles.
The colorful sheen of the clouds comes from the fact that the setting sun is lower in the sky than the clouds themselves. This in turn causes them to absorb the sun’s rays reflect back to earth.
Although the mother-of-pearl clouds are very beautiful to look at, they are also destructive the ozone. The latter protects us from the dangerous rays of the sun.
Phenomenon 10: swarm of starlings or black sun
You’ve probably seen a star before. When hundreds or thousands of them gather, the sight can become a real spectacle: the birds perform a kind of dance known as “Murmuration“. Colloquially, this is also called the “black sun”.
flocks of starlings can both in the USA as well as in Europe and England are observed. The choreography is based on the simple principle: “Follow Your Neighbor”.
Already in early summer you can observe the first flocks of young birds and unmated starlings. As autumn approaches, the swarms become increasingly larger. The aim of the flock is to protect the starlings from other aerial attackers.
Conclusion
Nature stops a lot impressive phenomena ready for us. You may have observed some of them before. Do you have the opportunity to do one of these? in close proximity to see, you should definitely use them.
