Interesting and unusual natural phenomena. The most unusual natural phenomena, with photos and descriptions

The weather can be good or bad, but its anomalies always fascinate us. We have selected the most unusual natural phenomena that occur around the globe and are extremely rare.

We are used to seeing icicles hanging from rooftops. However, in the Arctic there are special icicles that hang under water and are a mortal danger for the inhabitants of the ocean floor. This phenomenon was discovered almost 30 years ago, but it was only in 2011 that the BBC channel team managed to film the process of its birth.
The formation of this extraordinary icicle is easily explained by science. Salty sea water freezes a little differently and turns not into an icy firmament, but into something similar to a porous wet washcloth. Icebergs are literally riddled with small channels filled with salt water.

Having reached the bottom, the "finger of death" does not stop, but continues to spread along the bottom. In 15 minutes, such a structure is capable of destroying all unhurried living organisms in an area of ​​​​several meters. It was for this that the fatal icicle was called the "icy finger of death."

There are a large number of clouds that have a special shape and special causes. Omniform or tubular clouds look strange and unusual. They look either like sections of pipes, or like a lot of suspended balls, the hue of which changes from white to blue-gray. The color depends on the thickness of the cloud.

How are they obtained? Clouds usually have a flat base. Warm moist air cools and condenses into water droplets. This occurs at a certain temperature, and its decrease in the atmosphere is associated with altitude. Droplets grow and form an opaque cloud.

However, under special conditions (moist air above and dry below), cloud pockets begin to form in the atmosphere, filled with large water droplets or even ice crystals, which, under their weight, literally fall into clean air. This behavior of clouds is associated with the turbulent movement of air masses. And the turbulent movement of air indicates the proximity of a powerful thunderstorm front.

Like any relief surface, tubular clouds are especially spectacular under regime lighting, at dusk or dawn. They are mainly observed in the tropics, but also appear in more northern latitudes.

A hazy rainbow is another optical phenomenon in the atmosphere, similar to the well-known rainbow. The phenomenon is a wide shiny white arc. However, this type of rainbow is neutral in color and can be seen not during rain, but during fog.

A hazy rainbow requires strict conditions to occur. The water droplets from which the fog is formed must have a certain size - about 0.02 mm. However, due to light diffraction, the split spectrum is mixed and a uniform white color is obtained.

Due to edge effects, the inner radius of the rainbow can be colored purple, while the outer one has an orange tint.

Catatumbo lightning is a natural phenomenon that occurs in northwestern Venezuela, where the river of the same name flows into Lake Maracaibo. Regular thunderstorm activity is observed above the confluence: lightning in the clouds is almost 200 days a year, continuous thunderstorm sessions last about 10 hours.

This is where the warm and humid air masses from the Caribbean meet the cold air that descends from the Andes, resulting in the formation of eddies. The decaying organic matter of numerous swamps releases methane gas into the atmosphere. It improves the electrical conductivity in the cloud, resulting in lightning.

For a long time, this place served as a landmark for sailors - it can be seen from a distance of more than 400 km. The Venezuelan government wants to make the unique location a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is believed that this is the largest natural ozone generator.

This phenomenon is much easier to see in a fantasy quest than in reality. Many factors are required: the full moon should be low, the sky should be dark, and a powerful waterfall should be located opposite the luminary or it should rain.

And still you will see the lunar rainbow completely white. The fact is that even under the best conditions, its brightness is extremely small and human physiology allows you to see only a white rainbow.

This is where a modern camera that shoots at a slow shutter speed can come to the rescue. An exposure of 15-30 seconds will allow the sensor to collect enough light, and the rainbow can be seen already in color, but only in the photograph.

Gloria is another phenomenon associated with the diffraction of light in cloud or fog droplets. This weather phenomenon can only be detected when the light source is behind the back, and the light reflected from the cloud returns directly to the observer. Gloria can be observed in the mountains as her own silhouette or during the flight as the shadow of an airplane on a cloud.

The rainbow halo around one's own shadow was interpreted by Buddhists as the degree of a person's enlightenment. The seemingly huge and living shadow disturbed the Germans who climbed into the mountains.

The sea can turn into foam in any part of the planet, but most often this happens in the southern hemisphere. In a few minutes, the entire coast, houses and sun loungers disappear in a sudden foam that slowly dissolves on the sand.

For foam to appear in sea water, there must be a large accumulation of algae, salt and some waste. These ingredients act as surfactants (like the shampoo in your bathroom) and reduce the surface tension at the water/air interface. Well, strong currents and wind do not cost anything to whip all the ingredients into a rich foam and take it out to meet the dumbfounded swimmers.

While foaming happens only occasionally. But with further ocean pollution, it can become permanent.

In addition to lightning, which we see from the Earth, powerful flashes occur above thunderclouds, directed into space. They are divided into red sprites, "blue jets" and elves. The shape and color of flashes depend on the height at which they occur.

Unlike lightning, these flashes are characterized by a pronounced blue or red color and cover distances up to 100 km in length and diameter. This makes them an element of space weather, as aurora borealis and meteors fly in these areas.

This phenomenon is poorly understood for one reason: from the Earth, flashes can only be observed at a low altitude. Now they are being studied from the ISS. According to some reports, strong electricity emissions can “drive out” ozone from the protective layer.

Waterspouts look like small water tornadoes and usually appear under a cloud above the water surface. Although from the outside it may seem that liquid is literally sucked out of the water, the tornado is located above the surface and consists of water droplets formed during condensation.

Occasionally strong waterspouts occur, but most of them are weak and are caused by the collision of atmospheric dynamics, which forms a vortex.

Morning Gloria is a rare meteorological phenomenon, a "storm collar" that forms on the edge of an advancing cold front. The downward flow of air forces the warm, moist air to rise and cool - as a result, it cools below the dew point and turns into a cloud.

This occurs along the entire length of the front: the cloud is up to 1000 km long and, moreover, rotates around the longitudinal axis. The rolling speed of the cloud can reach 60 km/h, which portends heavy winds and bad weather in the direction of the "collar".

According to the nature of the origin, the morning glory can be considered a tornado that lies on its side. It appears regularly in the autumn in northern Australia, occasionally in other parts of the world.

Volcanic activity provides a very "nurturing" environment for impressive discharges, and in several ways. The incredible amount of ejected volcanic dust and gas creates a dense stream of charged particles.

This causes electrostatic ionization and, as a result, very powerful and very frequent lightning that tries to neutralize the charge. Two types of such lightning are observed: 1) striking from the crater and associated with electrical processes in the magma, 2) occurring in clouds and associated with the friction of volcanic ash.

You have probably heard about the oddities of our nature, but you hardly realized how strange and unusual it can be. Today we will introduce you to 25 of the most amazing natural phenomena and phenomena of our planet, from an incessant storm to a lake that can kill and turn animals into mummies.

25. Parhelion (solar dogs)

Parhelion, also known as a false sun, is an atmospheric phenomenon consisting of a pair of bright spots located on either side of the sun and quite often surrounded by a luminous ring. This occurs as a result of the refraction of light in lamellar ice crystals that are high in cirrus clouds or occur in very cold weather.

24. Underwater crop circles


First discovered in 1995 off the coast of southern Japan, underwater circles have been a real mystery to scientists for quite some time. Only in 2011, scientists finally solved this problem, having learned that these strange figures with a diameter of 2 meters are nothing but the creation of a tiny puffer fish.

23. Great Blue Hole


Many have seen a photo of the Great Blue Hole in Belize, but few know about its true origin. The Great Blue Hole was a cave located on the mainland at a time when the world's sea level was much lower than today. As the sea level rose, the cave flooded. Today it is a hole more than 300 meters wide and about 124 meters deep.

22. Migration of red crabs on Christmas Island


Reaching a length of 12 centimeters, Christmas Island red crabs are an endemic species found only in Christmas Island and the Cocos Islands in the Indian Ocean. As a rule, these land crabs usually live in underground burrows dug in local forests, however every year, during the mating season, they migrate to the coast. For a week, local roads are covered with a red carpet of millions of crabs moving towards the coast.

21. Black Sun


When it comes to migrations, it is impossible not to mention such a phenomenon as the “black sun”. Each March, over a million starlings (mid-sized birds reaching 20 centimeters in length) begin to congregate in southwestern Jutland, Denmark, in preparation for their April migration. Going to other places, they stray into huge "swarms", which received the name "black sun" in Denmark.

20. Giant Crystals


Located in the city of Naica, Mexico, the Cave of Crystals was discovered in 2000 and has since attracted many cavers and geologists from all over the globe. The cave contains huge selenite crystals, some of which reach 12 meters in length. In addition, the cave is extremely hot. The temperature here reaches 58 degrees Celsius. At the moment, the cave remains not fully explored, but scientists have already managed to find out that the approximate age of the crystals is 500,000 years.

19. Spider web bedspreads


You have probably seen a photo of a rather large web, but what could be seen in the Australian town of Waga-Waga a few years ago is incomparable to anything. Due to severe floods, local spiders had to leave their homes. To escape from all the incoming streams of water, they went on a move that surprised all biologists: the spiders wove a huge web of hundreds of thousands of smaller networks, creating a giant platform that allowed them to escape from death.

18. Lightning Catatumbo


This phenomenon is also known as the persistent storm. Catatumbo lightning is a unique atmospheric phenomenon that occurs at the mouth of the Catatumbo River, Venezuela. The source of this storm is thunderclouds located at an altitude of 5 kilometers. The storm here lasts 160 nights a year, 10 hours a day.

17. Grand Prismatic Spring


The Grand Prismatic Spring is located in Yellowstone National Park and is the largest in the United States, as well as the third largest in the world. Such bright colors are given to it by special bacteria that live in mineral waters this source. The size of the source is 80 by 90 meters, and its depth reaches 50 meters. In a minute, 2100 liters of water with a temperature of 70 degrees Celsius erupt from it.

16. Moeraki Boulders


The Moeraki boulders are large spherical rocks located along the Pacific coast of New Zealand. According to the legend of the local Maori tribe, these boulders are the remains of food baskets. Research scientists have shown that the stones themselves are composed of mud, fine silt and clay with calcite. They formed during the Paleocene period (66-56 million years ago).

15. Basalt columns


Basalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock that forms when basaltic lava cools rapidly. Basalt rocks come in a wide variety of shapes, but one of the most common is the column shape. Millions of years ago, they were only part of the usual lava plateau, but time and erosion have had a hand in creating the most amazing landscapes from basalt.

14. Landscapes of Danxia


These unique geomorphological landscapes can be found in some areas in the northeast, southwest and northwest of China. The relief of Danxia is mostly painted red, and its amazing forms have been created by wind, sun and rain for millions of years, forming breathtaking landscapes from limestone and sandstone.

13. Bioluminescence


Bioluminescence is the production and emission of light by living organisms. One of the most amazing examples of this unusual natural phenomenon is the bioluminescence of phytoplankton called dinoflagellates on Vaadhoo Island, Maldives.

12. Sardine run


We have already mentioned two examples of unusual mass migrations, but none of them compares to the so-called sardine run. Almost every year, from May to July, billions of sardines migrate north along the east coast of South Africa, providing easy prey for many predators. Despite such a huge scale of this migration, scientists do not know much about it. To be precise, the only thing that has been learned about them over the past 23 years is that during this period of time, sardines missed the migration only three times.

11. Ant Circles


Most ants move based on information received by their eyes, but in some cases ants rely only on a special trail left by the pheromones of other ants. If an ant loses such a trail, then it immediately becomes disoriented and starts running in circles until it dies of exhaustion. Sometimes this phenomenon is massive, and the circles are up to 300 meters in diameter.

10. Living stone


Their scientific name is Pyura chilensis. Live rocks are shelled marine invertebrates found on the coasts of Chile and Peru. What looks like a mass of innards inside a stone is actually an immobile organism that feeds on microorganisms that it filters out of sea ​​water. For some reason obscure to science, living stones contain 10 million times more vanadium (an extremely rare chemical element) than is found on average in sea water.

9. Lenticular clouds


Lenticular clouds arising in the troposphere are one of the rarest and. They are formed when moist air goes around an obstacle (for example, a mountain) and accumulates around it. Due to their unique shape, these unique clouds are sometimes even mistaken for UFOs.

8 Animal Rain


Numerous cases are known in the world when it rained from the sky from a mass of various animals. In the summer of 2000, fish rained down from the sky in Ethiopia. In June 2009, frog rain hit Japan, and in 2007, snake rain hit Argentina. Most of these rains are associated with tornadoes and other similar hurricanes that can lift and carry away even small bodies of water.

7 Mummifying Lake


Located in the northern part of Tanzania, it is a salt lake with a huge amount of sodium impurities. It is widely known for its extremely high salt levels and extremely high temperatures which in summer here can reach 60 degrees Celsius. And although some animals were able to adapt to the hardness of the lake, most of the animals and birds wandering here by mistake find their death in its waters and turn into real mummies.

6 Rainbow Eucalyptus


Known scientifically as the rainbow eucalyptus, this plant can reach a width of 1.8 meters and a height of 61 meters. The tree is notable for its unique multicolored bark.

5 Ice Storm


Few things compare in strangeness to the vagaries of the weather. An ice storm, for example, refers to a type of winter storm that is characterized by freezing rain. Frozen precipitation, flying through a warm air mass, turns into rain, which freezes, flying through cold air masses, becoming covered with a thick ice crust. One of the most memorable ice storms of our time hit Geneva, Switzerland in January 2005.

4. Snow chimneys


This phenomenon is similar to fumaroles (cracks and holes in the earth's crust that emit steam and gases). Snow chimneys are generally the remains of small, snow-covered volcanoes found in many arctic regions. Immediately after the steam and gases leave them, the holes freeze and become covered with a thick layer of snow, turning the vents of volcanoes into snow chimneys.

3. Fire whirlwinds


Also known as fire tornadoes and firestorms, these whirlwinds usually revolve around their core, where temperatures can reach 1090 degrees Celsius, usually enough to re-ignite ash blown from the earth's surface. One of these eddies was observed in Australia in 2003 during bush fires in the vicinity of Canberra, then the diameter of the funnel of that eddy was about 500 meters.

2. Moving stones


Also known as sliding or crawling stones, moving stones are related to mysterious geological phenomena. The stones slowly move along the valley on their own, leaving winding paths behind them. The origin of this phenomenon is currently shrouded in mystery, but scientists suggest that such movements may be caused by strong winds that push stones and make them slide over wet clay and soil. The heaviest stones here weigh about 320 kilograms.

1. Wave of Corruption


The Pororoka Wave is a 4 meter high tidal wave that travels 800 kilometers up the Amazon River. The Pororoka wave is the longest wave in the world, it occurs only twice a year between February and March, when the tidal waves of the Atlantic Ocean reach the mouth of the Amazon. And although surfing on this wave is quite dangerous due to the huge amount of river debris, this sport has become quite popular among the locals.

As children, we are all amazed at blue skies, white clouds, and bright stars. With age, this goes away for many, and we stop noticing nature. Check out this list of unusual natural phenomena, for sure it will make you once again surprised by the complex organization of our world, and natural phenomena in particular.

20. Lunar rainbow.

A moonbow (also known as a nightbow) is a rainbow spawned by the moon. The lunar rainbow is comparatively paler than the usual one. Lunar rainbows are best seen when the moon is full, or when the moon is close to full, as this is when the moon is at its brightest. For a lunar rainbow to appear, other than those caused by a waterfall, the moon must be low in the sky (less than 42 degrees and preferably even lower) and the sky must be dark. And of course it must rain against the moon. A lunar rainbow is much rarer than a rainbow seen in daylight. The lunar rainbow phenomenon is observed in only a few places in the world. Waterfalls in Cumberland Falls, near Williamsburg, Kentucky, USA; Waimea, Hawaii; Zailiysky Alatau in the foothills of Almaty; The Victoria Falls on the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe are well-known for their frequent sightings of lunar rainbows. Yosemite National Park in the United States contains a large number of waterfalls. As a result, lunar rainbows are also observed in the park, especially when the water level rises in spring from melting snow. Lunar rainbows are also observed on the Yamal Peninsula in conditions of heavy fog. Probably, with sufficiently strong fog and sufficiently clear weather, a lunar rainbow can be observed at any latitude.

19. Mirages

Despite their prevalence, mirages always evoke an almost mystical sense of wonder. An optical phenomenon in the atmosphere: the reflection of light by the boundary between layers of air that are sharply different in density. For an observer, such a reflection consists in the fact that, together with a distant object (or a section of the sky), its imaginary image, displaced relative to the object, is visible. Mirages are divided into lower ones, visible under the object, upper ones, above the object, and side ones.

18. Halo

Usually halos occur at high humidity or severe frost - before the halo was considered a phenomenon from above, and people expected something unusual. This is an optical phenomenon, a luminous ring around an object - a light source. The halo usually appears around the Sun or Moon, sometimes around other powerful light sources. There are many types of halo, but they are mainly caused by ice crystals in cirrus clouds at an altitude of 5-10 km in the upper troposphere. Sometimes in frosty weather, the halo is formed by crystals very close to the earth's surface. In this case, the crystals resemble shining gems.

17. Belt of Venus

An interesting optical phenomenon that occurs when the atmosphere is dusty is an unusual "belt" between the sky and the horizon. Appears as a pink to orange band between the dark night sky below and the blue sky above, appearing before sunrise or after sunset, parallel at 10°-20° to the horizon, opposite the Sun. In the belt of Venus, the atmosphere scatters the light from the setting (or rising) Sun, which looks redder, which is why the color is pink instead of blue.

16. Pearl clouds

Unusually high clouds (about 10-12 km), becoming visible at sunset.

15. Northern lights

The northern or polar lights, also known as the Aurora Borealis, are truly an amazing sight. This natural phenomenon can most often be observed in late autumn, winter or early spring.

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. clouds that are round and shaped like a biconvex lens - in the past they were sometimes confused with UFOs.

12. The fires of St. Elmo.

A fairly common phenomenon caused by increased electric field strength before a thunderstorm, during a thunderstorm, and immediately after. A discharge in the form of luminous beams or tassels (or a corona discharge) that occurs at the sharp ends of tall objects (towers, masts, lonely trees, sharp peaks of rocks, etc.) 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

The fire whirl is also known as the fire devil or fire tornado. This is a rare phenomenon in which fire, under certain conditions, depending on temperature and air currents, acquires a vertical vorticity. Fire whirlwinds often appear when bushes are burning. Vertically rotating pillars can reach 10 to 65 meters in height, but only for the last few minutes of their existence. And with a certain wind, they can be even higher.

10. Mushroom clouds.

Mushroom clouds are clouds of smoke in the shape of a mushroom, formed as a result of the combination of the smallest particles of water and earth, or as a result of a powerful explosion.

9. Light pillars.

One of the most frequent species halo, a visual phenomenon, an optical effect that is a vertical strip of light stretching from the sun during its sunset or sunrise.

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.

6. Virga.

Rain that evaporates before reaching the ground. It is observed as a noticeable band of precipitation emerging from the cloud. In North America, it is most commonly seen in the southern United States and the Canadian prairies.

5. Bora.

Hurricane winds with many names. Strong (up to 40-60 m/s) cold wind in some coastal areas where low mountain ranges border the warm sea (for example, on the Adriatic coast of Croatia, on the Black Sea coast near Novorossiysk). Directed down slopes, usually observed in winter.

4. Fire rainbow.

Occurs when the sun's rays pass through high clouds. Unlike an ordinary rainbow, which can be observed almost anywhere in the world, a "fiery rainbow" is visible only in certain latitudes. In Russia, the visibility belt runs along the extreme south.

3. Green beam.

An extremely rare optical phenomenon, a flash of green light at the moment the solar disk disappears behind the horizon (usually sea) or appears from behind the horizon.

2. Ball lightning.

A rare natural phenomenon, a unified physical theory of the occurrence and course of which has not been presented to date. There are about 200 theories explaining the phenomenon, but none of them has received absolute recognition in the academic environment. It is widely believed that ball lightning is a phenomenon of electrical origin, of natural nature, that is, it is special kind lightning that exists for a long time in the form of a ball that can move along an unpredictable, sometimes very surprising trajectory for eyewitnesses.

In South America, in the Amazon River basin, the largest water lily in the world lives - the giant Victoria Amazonian. The diameter of its leaves reaches two me...

Most of us have seen these natural phenomena only in films or on the Discovery Channel. I present a detailed description with photographs of the most incredible natural phenomena. You can read about the phenomena that I talked about earlier by clicking on this one.
1. Water bloom: in more detail we considered neon lakes

When the ocean, air, and temperature conditions permit, ocean phytoplankton reproduce fairly quickly, creating a thick, visible layer on its surface. This phenomenon, called a water bloom, looks rather unsightly during the day, but in parts of California and other places where there are bioluminescent nightlights, the water bloom is a truly spectacular sight. This species of phytoplankton glows blue when agitated, turning the dark ocean into a giant lava lamp. You can watch the waves begin to glow on impact as they ripple across the sand, and the earth begins to shine under your feet, and if you dive underwater, you will see an amazing radiance in all its glory.

2. Bioluminescence

3. Fire rainbow

4. Pearly clouds

5. Snow rollers

6. Basalt columns

7. Rain of animals: we examined it in more detail

8. Wavy clouds

9. Green beam

10. False sun

11. Double rainbow

12. Striped icebergs

13. Lightning Catatumbo

14. Gravitational wave

15. Moeraki Boulders

Beauty is deadly.

A striking example of this statement can serve as a variety of natural phenomena. We all know that nature is the "mother" of everything, it is beautiful and amazing. But, giving birth to life, nature is able to take it away.

Yes and in modern world The question of caring for nature, the need to preserve and protect it has been raised more than once. Unfortunately, few, very few, heed the voice of reason. The vast majority of people inhabiting our planet treat the gifts of Nature as something natural, never ending.

And Nature sometimes decides to remind of itself. Whether it's a scorching lava wave, or endless cracks dividing the line between life and death, or the insane and merciless rampage of the water element. But sometimes the "tricks" of nature are something out of the ordinary.

We present you the top 10 most unusual natural phenomena.

A natural phenomenon with such a romantic name can be observed shortly before sunrise or immediately after sunset. A stripe of an unusual color runs across the sky parallel to the horizon line. The belt is located between the dark night sky. But it can be painted in any color of the rainbow. This phenomenon is explained by the fact that the light of the rising sun is scattered in the atmosphere, and at this moment our luminary looks the most red, hence the sky turns out not blue, but pink. After all, it is pink that dissipates best in thick layers of the atmosphere, but green color much worse, so the green belt of Venus is a very, very rare phenomenon. You can see this phenomenon in any area, but only in a clear cloudless sky. And it is best seen in the opposite direction from the sun.

These are springs that, with noise and roar, throw a column of hot water onto the surface of the Earth, and the water temperature can very often exceed 100 ° C. The height of the geysers can be quite small, but can reach up to eighty meters in height. The fountain from the ground beats for a while, then it calms down, the steam disappears and nothing reminds of past activity. If the geyser is large, then it operates in the area where there were or still are active volcanoes. After all, the connection between volcanoes and geysers has been established for a long time. Rocky formations appear around the geysers, as the water splashed out by jets of hot water is saturated with minerals. These formations can be different color and different shapes. The height of the "walls" is constantly growing, sometimes taking on bizarre unusual forms. People try to use this miracle of nature for good - to get electricity, heat houses and just enjoy the unusual beauty that nature gives us.

8. Fire (starry) rain

Each of us has ever heard of this natural phenomenon. But you obviously won't be able to catch a star. Indeed, in reality, it is not these celestial bodies that fall to the earth at all. Meteorites entering the Earth's atmosphere and burning up in it create a flash of light that we can observe from Earth. Our planet moves in its orbit and crosses entire meteor showers, and each such swarm has its own clear orbit in outer space. This means that our Earth crosses these streams at the same time of the year. Rains are formed due to the high intensity of meteor showers. Many of them have been named after the constellations from which they appear visually. Everyone knows the August Perseids, November Leonids, in April you can see the Lyrids ... And because of these most beautiful star showers, our beloved planet increases in mass by about five million tons every year. Here is such a "retribution" for beauty.

7. Blood Falls

It turns out that in the harsh Antarctica there is a unique natural phenomenon. In the Dry Valleys, among the dazzling white snow, water of an unusually bright color flows out of the Taylor Glacier, from a distance very similar to blood. Hence the name of this truly unusual phenomenon. And it's all about salt water and the content of iron oxide in it. This unusual water flows from an underground lake that has been "trapped" and has been there for almost two million years. The water temperature is five degrees below zero, and it does not freeze because of its high salinity. But in spite of low temperature and the high salt content in this body of water closed on all sides is life. And this is another phenomenon of this amazing place. Almost under a 400-meter layer of ice, microorganisms have been living and feeling great for many thousands of years. living there without sunlight and fresh air, they are forced to exist (even breathe) due to the minerals surrounding them, namely iron. The waste products of these microbes color the water in such an unusual color.

6. Moving stones

In the Death Valley National Preserve in California, you can observe another unique natural phenomenon. Here is the mystical dry lake Racetrack Playa, along the bottom of which stones are scattered, changing their location without human or animal intervention and leaving visible traces of their movement. These “eternal wanderers” weigh up to 350 kg, and the tracks that follow them reach tens of meters in length and less than 2.5 cm in depth. Sometimes the stones change their direction of movement and can roll over from side to side.

This geological phenomenon is explained by the presence of several factors - a wet surface and a thin layer of clay as a slippery base, strong and constant gusts of wind as an initiating force.

The unique Lake Hillier is located on one of the largest islands of the Rechurch archipelago in the south of Western Australia. This reservoir is shallow, the water in it is very salty. It is because of this that the lake is bordered by a thick crust of salt, and then this reservoir is surrounded by eucalyptus trees. different types and maples. These trees create dense beautiful bright greenery that surrounds this wonderful reservoir. And its peculiarity is the unreal pink color of the water. It is noteworthy that it will not change when you type it into any container. The length of Lake Hillier is about 600 meters, and the width is about 250. A narrow sandy spit separates the pink lake from the ocean. And here it is all together - the lake, the color of strawberry caramel, bright juicy greenery, which, together with a white strip of salt, surrounds it, golden sand and emerald waters of the ocean create an unrealistically beautiful, fabulous and bewitching picture. Hundreds of tourists dream of visiting this mysterious place. The lake attracts not only travelers, but also scientists who are trying to find out the secret of the color of the water. But, alas, until now the mystery of Lake Hillier remains unsolved.

4. Mirage

This is an optical atmospheric phenomenon, expressed as a virtual image of a distant object, displaced relative to its location. This unique optical effect is created when light is displayed between unevenly heated layers of air or when air flows along different reasons unusually arranged vertically. Despite the fact that mirages have long been studied, they always cause a mystical feeling of admiration and amazement. But as they can be spectacular and bewitching, so dangerous. One of the most illustrative cases is the story when, due to optical illusion more than 60 people and about 100 camels died in the desert, leading a caravan led by an experienced guide in the opposite direction from a water source.

Mirages are stable and wandering, horizontal and vertical. Scientists have found that this phenomenon is possible anywhere on our Earth. It is worth noting that very distinct visions do not appear in the desert, as is commonly believed, but in Alaska - in conditions of extreme cold. The colder, the clearer the phantoms.

3. Firestorm

And this fiery phenomenon is considered one of the most beautiful and graceful, created by Nature. A similar tornado occurs when several combustion centers are combined into one. The air above them becomes hot, the density becomes less, and the fire shoots up sharply. Below, cooler air returns to its place, which then also heats up. This oxygen suction plays a role similar to the bellows in the forge. Inside these tornadoes, the air masses rotate at a frantic speed - more than four hundred kilometers per hour! The temperature can reach up to 1000 degrees. Firestorms, fortunately, are not very frequent guests. Indeed, even in a short period of its existence, this beautiful, bright, but unthinkably dangerous extravaganza is capable of destroying several hundred thousand lives, not to mention the area, which will inevitably turn into ashes after a hurricane.

This phenomenon is rightfully one of the most mysterious. One of the first mentions of it arose in the fifth century: the old bishop Gregory noted a huge fire ball, which appeared at the consecration of the new chapel. During next years tens of thousands of testimonies about ball lightning have been collected, but the phenomenon itself remains inexplicable. Very often, the meeting of a person and this fireball ends tragically. The size of the ball can be from five to thirty centimeters, the lifetime is about ten seconds. Most often it is red, yellow or orange. The peculiarity of such lightning is that it can even penetrate the room, and the wounds inflicted by this natural phenomenon are always very cruel - torn pieces of skin and muscles, severe burns, etc.

The polar (northern) lights are an amazing sight. This unique natural phenomenon has been shrouded in mysticism and mystery for many years, but scientists explain this fabulous phenomenon by the glow of the upper layers of the Earth's atmosphere, which have a magnetosphere, as a result of their reaction with charged particles of the solar wind. The radiation of excited atoms is perceived as aurora. During this mesmerizing spectacle, a large amount of energy is released, so the duration of the aurora can vary from several minutes to several days. Moreover, if solar activity is high, then the longer this phenomenon will be longer and more colorful.

The northern lights can color the sky in spirals or arcs. The multi-colored stripes are about 160 km wide, and stretch for a distance of about 1500 km.

This miracle of nature has a large palette of colors. The color depends on which gas particles interact with the solar wind. Scientists have found that, for example, purple and lilac shades give excited nitrogen, reddish and greenish - the oxygen of the atmosphere. Most often you can see a pale green glow. And relatively recently, it was confirmed that such a miracle of nature is also accompanied by a sound effect.

Regarding brightness, this phenomenon is usually divided into 4 classes. Lights of the first class are considered weak. But the radiance of the fourth class is so saturated that they can be compared in brightness with full moon. The most distinct and picturesque pictures of the aurora can be observed from Lapland and Northern Scandinavia.