Monday, February 28, 2011

20 Most Amazing Natural Phenomenons Around The Worlds

Natural Phenomenon is a non-artificial event in the physical sense, and therefore not produced by humans, although it may affect humans (e.g. bacteria, aging, natural disasters, death).
We never know,, when will natural phenomenon come to us?! it will be a mystery from the God.
Some amazing natural phenomenons happenned around the worlds. here are the list of 20 Most Amazing Natural Phenomenons Around The Worlds :

1. Aurora Borealis

Undoubtedly one of the most beautiful events to occur in our world, the Aurora Borealis, also known as the Northern Lights, has both astounded and amazed people since it was first discovered. This phenomenon ocurrs when the sun gives off high-energy charged particles (also called ions) that travel out into space at speeds of 300 to 1200 kilometres per second. A cloud of such particles is called a plasma. The stream of plasma coming from the sun is known as the solar wind. As the solar wind interacts with the edge of the earth’s magnetic field, some of the particles are trapped by it and they follow the lines of magnetic force down into the ionosphere, the section of the earth’s atmosphere that extends from about 60 to 600 kilometers above the earth’s surface. When the particles collide with the gases in the ionosphere they start to glow, producing the spectacle that we know as the auroras, northern and southern. 

2. Fire Rainbow



The atmospheric phenomenon known as a circumhorizon(tal) arc, or "Fire rainbow", appears when the sun is high in the sky (i.e., higher than 58° above the horizon), and its light passes through diaphanous, high-altitude cirrus clouds made up of hexagonal plate crystals. Sunlight entering the crystals' vertical side faces and leaving through their bottom faces is refracted (as through a prism) and separated into an array of visible colors. When the plate crystals in cirrus clouds are aligned optimally (i.e., with their faces parallel to the ground), the resulting display is a brilliant spectrum of colors reminiscent of a rainbow. The example shown above was captured on camera as it hung for about an hour across a several-hundred square mile area of sky above northern Idaho (near the Washington border) on 3 June 2006. 

3. Mammatus Clouds

Also known as mammatocumulus, meaning "bumpy clouds", they are a cellular pattern of pouches hanging underneath the base of a cloud. Composed primarily of ice, Mammatus Clouds can extend for hundreds of miles in each direction, while individual formations can remain visibly static for ten to fifteen minutes at a time. True to their ominous appearance, mammatus clouds are often harbingers of a coming storm or other extreme weather system.

 


4. Red Tides

A natural phenomena occurs because gathering of microorganisms in the coastal area from the mouth water, sea or river water and make the water purple and red. When ocean, air, and temperature conditions are just right, ocean phytoplankton reproduce like bunnies, creating a thick, visible layer near the surface. These algae blooms — a.k.a “red tides” — might look disgusting during the day, but in parts of California and other places where the bioluminescent variety of Noctiluca scintillans bloom, red tide nights look out of this world.
This particular variety of phytoplankton glows blue when agitated, transforming the dark ocean into a giant lava lamp. Watch as the waves light up as they crash, run across the sand to see the ground glow under your feet, or dive in to be surrounded by the bizarre Timex-y glow.

5. Penitentes

These amazing ice spikes, generally known as penitentes due to their resemblance to processions of white-hooded monks, can be found on mountain glaciers and vary in size dramatically: from a few centimetres to 5 metres in height. Initially, the sun’s rays cause random dimples on the surface of the snow. Once such a dimple is formed, sunlight can be reflected within the dimple, increasing the localized sublimation. As this accelerates, deep troughs are formed, leaving peaks of ice standing between them.










6. Ice Circles

Ice circle is extremely rare phenomenon happen in cold water. The great circle can be found in Scandinavian and North America, and the latest one happen in the UK, in January 2009.









7. Columnar Basalt


A natural volcanic formation, columnar basalt has a seemingly man-made appearance. The (mostly) hexagonal columns formed naturally as thick lava cooled rapidly, contracting and creating cracks in the surface of the new rock. Basalt headliner in the world located in the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland.





8. Sun Dogs

The phenomenon where there are 3 suns in the horizon. Sundogs may appear as a colored patch of light to the left or right of the sun, 22° distant and at the same distance above the horizon as the sun, and in ice halos. They can be seen anywhere in the world during any season, but they are not always obvious or bright. Sundogs are best seen and are most conspicuous when the sun is low.





9. Light Pillars

Light pillars are a kind of optical phenomenon which is formed by the reflection of sunlight or moonlight by ice crystals that are present in the Earth's atmosphere. Owing to such optical phenomenon the sky sometimes seems like a natural kaleidoscope. Though light pillars seem like weather illusion , they are natural phenomena.
The light pillar looks like thin columns that that are sometimes extend vertically below or above the source of light. The Light Pillars are prominently visible when the sun is low or lies below the horizon. Normally these Light Pillars form arcs that extend from five to ten degrees just beyond the solar disc. Sometimes similar reflection of moonlight by varied forms of ice crystals may also take place thus resulting in the form of light pillars.
Light Pillars are particularly formed due to the reflection of column or flat shaped ice crystals that are present in the ice or cirrus clouds, hence the name light pillars.
Columns of light apparently beaming directly upwards from unshielded lights are sometimes visible during very cold weather. Plate shaped ice crystals, normally only present in high clouds, float in the air close to the ground and their horizontal facets reflect light back downwards.
The pillars are not physically over the lights or anywhere else in space for that matter ~ like all halos they are purely the collected light beams from all the millions of crystals which just happen to be reflecting light towards your eyes or camera.
Artificial light pillars can be much taller than their natural counterparts because rays from the lights are not parallel and plate crystals with small tilts can still reflect them downwards. The crystals producing the pillars are roughly halfway between you and the lights.
When ice crystals float in the air around you, pillars (and other halos) can even be seen around streetlights a few metres away.

10. Catatumbo Lightning

The mysterious "Relámpago del Catatumbo" (Catatumbo lightning) is a unique natural phenomenon in the world. Located on the mouth of the Catatumbo river at Lake Maracaibo (Venezuela), the phenomenon is a cloud-to-cloud lightning that forms a voltage arc more than five kilometre high during 140 to 160 nights a year, 10 hours a night, and as many as 280 times an hour. This almost permanent storm occurs over the marshlands where the Catatumbo River feeds into Lake Maracaibo and it is considered the greatest single generator of ozone in the planet, judging from the intensity of the cloud-to-cloud discharge and great frequency.
The area sees an estimated 1,176,000 electrical discharges per year, with an intensity of up to 400,000 amperes, and visible up to 400 km away. This is the reason why the storm is also known as the Maracaibo Beacon as light has been used for navigation by ships for ages. The collision with the winds coming from the Andes Mountains causes the storms and associated lightning, a result of electrical discharges through ionised gases, specifically the methane created by the decomposition of organic matter in the marshes. Being lighter than air, the gas rises up to the clouds, feeding the storms. Some local environmentalists hope to put the area under the protection of UNESCO, as it is an exceptional phenomenon, the greatest source of its type for regenerating the planet's ozone layer

11. Cave of the Crystals

Cave of the Crystals or Giant Crystal Cave (Spanish: Cueva de los Cristales) is a cave connected to the Naica Mine 300 metres (980 ft) below the surface in Naica, Chihuahua, Mexico. The main chamber contains giant selenite crystals, some of the largest natural crystals ever found. The cave's largest crystal found to date is 11 m (36 ft) in length, 4 m (13 ft) in diameter and 55 tons in weight. The cave is extremely hot with air temperatures reaching up to 58 °C (136 °F). The cave is relatively unexplored due to the extreme temperatures and high humidity. Without proper protection people can only endure approximately ten minutes of exposure at a time.
A group of scientists known as the Naica Project have been heavily involved in researching these caverns.

12. Pink and White Terraces

Natural Wonders from New Zealand that just memories because destroyed by the Tarawera volcanic eruption in 1886. The natural phenomenon of warm water that formed by geysers that blast down the hillside across the thickness of ice left, the largest pool of warm water was recorded around 3 acres. Before the destruction of this phenomenon, It belongs to ” The Eighth Wonder of the World “.





13. Moeraki Boulders

The Moeraki Boulders are unusually large and spherical boulders lying along a stretch of Koekohe Beach on the wave cut Otago coast of New Zealand between Moeraki and Hampden, and are located at 45°20′42.99″S 170°49′33.82″E / 45.345275°S 170.8260611°E / -45.345275; 170.8260611. They occur scattered either as isolated or clusters of boulders within a stretch of beach where they have been protected in a scientific reserve. The erosion by wave action of mudstone, comprising local bedrock and landslides, frequently exposes embedded isolated boulders. These boulders are grey-colored septarian concretions, which have been exhumed from the mudstone enclosing them and concentrated on the beach by coastal erosion.

14. Supercells

Supercell is the name given to a continuously rotating updraft deep within a severe thunderstorm (a mesocyclone) and looks downright scary. They are usually isolated storms, which can last for hours, and sometimes can split in two, with one storm going to the left of the wind and one to the right. They can spout huge amounts of hail, rain and wind and are often responsible for tornados, though they can also occur without tornados. Supercells are often carriers of giant hailstones and although they can occur anywhere in the world they’re most frequent in the Great Plains of the US.







15. Fire Whirls

 A fire whirl, also known as fire devil or fire tornado, is a rare phenomenon in which a fire, under certain conditions --depending on air temperature and currents--, acquires a vertical vorticity and forms a whirl, or a tornado-like effect of a vertically oriented rotating column of air. Fire whirls often occur during bush fires. Vertical rotating columns of fire form when the air currents and temperature are just right, creating a tornado-like effect. They can be as high as 30 to 200 ft tall and up to 10 ft wide but only last a few minutes, although some can last for longer if the winds are strong.
16. Nacreous Clouds

For those of you a bit farther away from the equator, there’s still plenty to see in the sky. Nacreous clouds (also called mother-of-pearl clouds) are extremely rare, but unmistakeable in the dark hours before dawn or after sunset. Because of their extremely high altitudes, they reflect sunlight from below the horizon, shining it brightly down onto viewers below, in stark comparison to the regular ol’ dark clouds in the troposphere. 
The lower stratosphere, where nacreous clouds live, is so dry that it often prevents cloud formation, but the extreme cold of polar winters make this beautiful phenomenon possible. Captured best during winter at high latitudes, nacreous clouds have been spotted in Iceland, Alaska, Northern Canada, and very rarely, farther south in England.
17. Snow Rollers

Snow rollers are formed when a thick layer of snow falls on top of a layer of ice. If the temperature and wind speed are right, chunks of snow can break loose and start rolling. As they’re blown along the ground like wintry tumbleweeds, they pick up additional snow along the way. The inner layers are often weaker and less compact, allowing them to be blown easily away by the wind, leaving a large, naturally formed snow donut. 
Because of the precise temperature and wind speeds required to create this effect, snow rollers are a rare sight, but have made headlines with their appearances in parts of North American and the UK.

18. Climbing Goats

Goats on trees are found mostly only in Morocco. The goats climb them because they like to eat the fruit of the argan tree, which is similar to an olive. Farmers actually follow the herds of goats as they move from tree to tree. Not because it is so strange to see goats in trees and the farmers like to point and stare, but because the fruit of the tree has a nut inside, which the goats can't digest, so they spit it up or excrete it which the farmers collect. The nut contains 1-3 kernels, which can be ground to make argan oil used in cooking and cosmetics. This oil has been collected by the people of the region for hundreds of years, but like many wild and useful things these days, the argan tree is slowly disappearing due to over-harvesting for the tree's wood and overgrazing by goats.

19. Red Rain

 From 25 July to 23 September 2001, red rain sporadically fell on the southern Indian state of Kerala. Heavy downpours occurred in which the rain was coloured red, staining clothes with an appearance similar to that of blood. Yellow, green, and black rain was also reported.

It was initially suspected that the rains were coloured by fallout from a hypothetical meteor burst, but a study commissioned by the Government of India found that the rains had been coloured by airborne spores from a locally prolific terrestrial alga. Then in early 2006, the coloured rains of Kerala suddenly rose to worldwide attention after media reports of a conjecture that the coloured particles were extraterrestrial cells, proposed by Godfrey Louis and Santhosh Kumar of the Mahatma Gandhi University in Kottayam. The terrestrial origins of the solid material in the red rain were supported by an investigation into the isotopic ratios of nitrogen and carbon. 

20. Black Sun

During spring in Denmark, at approximately one half an hour before sunset, flocks of more than a million European starlings (sturnus vulgaris) gather from all corners to join in the incredible formations shown above. This phenomenon is called Black Sun (in Denmark), and can be witnessed in early spring throughout the marshlands of western Denmark, from March through to the middle of April. The starlings migrate from the south and spend the day in the meadows gathering food, sleeping in the reeds during the night.

 

 
 






1 komentar:

Anonymous said...

wow

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