13 breathtaking natural phenomena

13 breathtaking natural phenomena

From the famous Northern Lights to the lesser-known Sea of ​​Stars, we share the world's most breathtaking natural phenomena

It's fire season. Every year, around the end of February, the setting sun hits Yosemite's Horsetail Falls at just the right angle to illuminate the cascade in brilliant orange and red hues that give the appearance of flowing fire or lava. To celebrate the spectacle, we explore the world's most breathtaking natural phenomena.

Breathtaking natural phenomena

When Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken made history in 2020 as the first astronauts to launch into orbit on a private spacecraft, the world paused to watch. Given the turmoil of our time, one observer quipped: "Congratulations to the astronauts who left Earth today. Good choice."

The off-the-cuff comment was amusing but also surprisingly poignant, reminding us of the damage humans are doing - not just to each other, but to the planet itself.

Seeing the curvature of the Earth through the astronauts' window reminded us of the extraordinary natural phenomena here at home. Below we share the best of them.

1. Northern lights

The Aurora Borealis, better known as the Northern Lights, is a natural light show caused by collisions between gaseous particles in the Earth's atmosphere with charged particles released from the Sun's atmosphere.

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The phenomenon typically occurs in northern regions such as Canada, Alaska, Norway, Greenland and Iceland, but has also occurred further south in Scotland and even New Orleans in the United States.

2. Catatumbo Lightning, Venezuela

This “perpetual lightning strike” occurs 140 to 160 nights a year, 10 hours a day and up to 280 times per hour over Lake Maracaibo, usually over the area where the Catatumbo River flows into the lake.

Fernando Flores/CC BY-SA 2.0

After occurring continuously for centuries, lightning stopped from January to April 2010, possibly due to drought. This raised fears that it had been permanently deleted, but it resurfaced a few months later. Scientists say Catatumbo is a normal lightning bolt that occurs much more frequently than elsewhere due to local topography and wind patterns.

3. Cloud formations

The British have an aversion to clouds. You see, we rarely get that delicate, bright white cotton candy cloud that glides through warmer climes. No, ours are gray, bulging and menacing. They threaten to explode at July barbecues and preside over weddings like harbingers of doom. What no one told us is that it doesn't have to be this way...

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Asperitas, mammatus and lentil clouds

Asperitas clouds are a natural phenomenon that look like rippling waves. These are believed to occur after convective thunderstorms. Mammatus clouds look like bulges or bags emerging from the base of a cloud, while lenticular clouds look like flying saucers. In fact, these clouds are said to be one of the most common explanations for UFO sightings around the world.

4. Sea of ​​Stars

The island of Vaadhoo in the Raa Atoll of the Maldives is famous for its “Sea of ​​Stars”. At night, the sea is illuminated by marine bioluminescence produced by plankton known as dinoflagellates.

When the plankton becomes stressed by ocean movement, it emits light as a defense mechanism, similar to some fireflies. As the intensity of the waves increases, the light also increases, creating the illusion of a sea of ​​stars.

5. Sea Bubbles, Canada

These formations beneath Abraham Lake in Canada look picturesque, but are actually frozen pockets of methane, a highly flammable gas.

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Caused by the decomposition of organic matter such as plants, animals and microbes, the flammable gas migrates closer to the surface in warmer months and eventually escapes into the atmosphere. The process is harmless as long as you don't shine nearby.

6. Light pillars

Light columns are an optical phenomenon in which narrow beams of light appear to extend from the sky to the ground.

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These occur when light from the sun or moon is reflected upwards by ice crystals that form in frosty air. For ice crystals to form, conditions must be extremely calm and cold, with no wind. In order for the light columns to be visible, the ice crystals must be close to the ground.

7. Horsetail Falls, USA

Every February, Horsetail Falls in Yosemite National Park are illuminated by the setting sun. When the conditions are right, the illusion of a “firefall” is created, where the waterfall glows orange and red, giving the impression of fire.

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Photographers flock to the site, but the ideal image requires a balance of forces: enough moisture to fuel the 1,000-foot waterfall, clear skies to let the light through, and the right angle for the sun to hit the famous falls.

8. Waterspouts

Waterspouts are like tornadoes but occur over water and are usually accompanied by strong winds and waves, large hail, and frequent dangerous lightning.

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Waterspouts are seen more frequently in the Florida Keys than any other place in the world. They have been reported in Europe, New Zealand and even Antarctica, but are most commonly found in the tropics and subtropics.

9. Lights of Hessdalen, Norway

These strange balls of light floating above a valley in central Norway have baffled scientists for three decades.

Sometimes the size of cars, the orbs have (understandably) sparked numerous reports of UFO sightings. Some orbs float gently through the sky for up to two hours, while others flash white or blue and streak across the valley, disappearing in seconds.

10. Turquoise ice, Russia

Lake Baikal, located in eastern Siberia in Russia, is one of the largest and deepest lakes in the world, containing an enormous fifth of the world's fresh water.

Alexey Trofimov/Fair Use

In March, due to weather conditions, cracks and ice mounds form, which in turn create a breathtaking natural phenomenon: bright turquoise ice shards woven into the masses of broken ice.

11. Volcanic lightning

As if active volcanoes weren't scary enough, we're now learning that some are so wild that they actually produce lightning.

This phenomenon, known as a "dirty thunderstorm," is caused by electrical charges created when rock fragments, ash and ice particles in a volcanic plume collide, creating static charges, just as ice particles collide in normal thunderstorms.

12. Snow chimneys

Snow chimneys are a type of fumarole; Openings in the Earth's crust that allow steam and gases from volcanoes to escape.

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In Arctic areas, the vapor freezes as soon as it leaves one of these vents, eventually forming massive snow chimneys like this one on Mount Erebus in Antarctica.

13. Fire vortex

If ever there was a mark of the devil, this would certainly be it. A fire vortex, also known as a “fire devil” or “fire tornado,” occurs when intense rising heat and turbulent wind conditions combine to create a vortex of flames and ash.

According to National Geographic, the fiery core in the swirling wind is typically one to three feet wide and five to 10 stories high, and in extreme cases can be dozens of feet wide and more than a hundred stories high. Terrible.

Main image: Gregory B. Cuvelier/Shutterstock

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