13 Unusual Cases of Natural Phenomena
Nature is amazing, from supercells to sailing stones, here are 13 unusual cases of natural phenomena that leave people shocked. \r
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7 - Supercells – Most common in the Great Plains region of the United States and in Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil, supercells are the most deadly and dangerous of thunderstorms. The issue with the supercell is the existence of a mesocyclone – or an endlessly rotating updraft. This causes unusually high amounts of hail, torrential rain, and dangerously high winds. Sometimes called rotating thunderstorms, supercells have been known to spark tornadoes inside its mesocyclone – however this only results in under 30% of occurrences. \r
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6 - Sailing Stones – Also called sliding rocks, sailing stones are literally rocks that slide on their own, leaving a visible trail behind them. Without animal or human interion these rocks seem to just glide along dry lakes – or playas - as if being pushed by an unseen force. To achieve this phenomenon, several things need to occur at the same time. First, the playa needs to fill with water and must be deep enough to create floating ice on cold winter nights, but not so deep that the stone isnt visible. Next, as the temperature at night goes down, the lake freezes forming thin sheets of ice. As the sun comes out and begins to melt the ice, it breaks up into large panels, which can be pushed around by light wind. \r
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5 - Columnar Basalt – Columnar basalt happens when a volcano erupts and there is a thick lava flow that eventually cools. If it cools quickly enough, frures form creating these really amazing joints that are perpendicular to the original flow. The frures and joints create columns. The rate of cooling is what determines their size and shape – very fast cooling will result in small columns and slow cooling will result in larger columns. These rare structures can be found in many places around the world, most notably Africa, Europe and India. \r
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4 - Light Pillars – Light pillars are vertical rays of light that extend above or below – or both - a light source, such as the sun, moon or man made things like bridges or streetlights. When the reflection of light inters with little ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere, this phenomenon is the result. The light pillars are categorized as halos, since theyre caused by an interion with ice crystals. The reason these pillars arent considered just a light beam is because theyre not located directly above or below the light source, but its instead an optical illusion. \r
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3 - Bioluminescence – Bioluminescence occurs thanks to a marine plankton named Dinoflagellates. Dinoflagellates are organisms that use luminescence as a defense mechanism and are also carried by algal blooms in different areas of the world. The algal blooms who host the luminescent dinoflagellates, create the glowing scenes when the dinoflagellates are disturbed – only lighting for a second, but longer if theyre really, really disturbed. For instance, boats usually create the biggest disturbance and cause a much longer glow. There are also many marine animals who share in the bioluminescence – including fish, jellyfish, crustaceans and comb jellies.\r
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2 - Fairy circles – A fairy circle, also known as an elf circle or pixie ring, are rings or arcs of mushrooms that may grow over 33 feet in diameter. Usually found in forests, these magic circles have had their share of folk lore surrounding them. In German lore, they are said to be where witches dance at night. While, an Austrian tale has a dragon putting down his tail in the spot where the fairy circle exists, ensuring nothing but toadstools can live inside the circle for seven years. No matter what the tale is, almost all these stories warn against entering the circle or bad things will happen to you. \r
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1 - Aurora Borealis – One of the best known cases of natural phenomena is the Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights. The lights are ually collisions occurring between electrically charged particles from the sun that enter the earths atmosphere. Depending what kind of gas particle it is, the colors vary from a pale yellow to a bright green. The lights occur around 60 miles above the earth and some ually produce a rare red color up to 200 miles high. The Northern Lights can be best seen in Canada and Alaska, and can also be seen in Greenland and Iceland. Southern Lights do occur, however arent seen as clearly due to their concentration in a ring around Antarctica and the Indian Ocean.
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Subscribe for weekly wacky videos and learn interesting fs about the world with awesome top 10 lists and other amazing videos.\r
\r
7 - Supercells – Most common in the Great Plains region of the United States and in Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil, supercells are the most deadly and dangerous of thunderstorms. The issue with the supercell is the existence of a mesocyclone – or an endlessly rotating updraft. This causes unusually high amounts of hail, torrential rain, and dangerously high winds. Sometimes called rotating thunderstorms, supercells have been known to spark tornadoes inside its mesocyclone – however this only results in under 30% of occurrences. \r
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6 - Sailing Stones – Also called sliding rocks, sailing stones are literally rocks that slide on their own, leaving a visible trail behind them. Without animal or human interion these rocks seem to just glide along dry lakes – or playas - as if being pushed by an unseen force. To achieve this phenomenon, several things need to occur at the same time. First, the playa needs to fill with water and must be deep enough to create floating ice on cold winter nights, but not so deep that the stone isnt visible. Next, as the temperature at night goes down, the lake freezes forming thin sheets of ice. As the sun comes out and begins to melt the ice, it breaks up into large panels, which can be pushed around by light wind. \r
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5 - Columnar Basalt – Columnar basalt happens when a volcano erupts and there is a thick lava flow that eventually cools. If it cools quickly enough, frures form creating these really amazing joints that are perpendicular to the original flow. The frures and joints create columns. The rate of cooling is what determines their size and shape – very fast cooling will result in small columns and slow cooling will result in larger columns. These rare structures can be found in many places around the world, most notably Africa, Europe and India. \r
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4 - Light Pillars – Light pillars are vertical rays of light that extend above or below – or both - a light source, such as the sun, moon or man made things like bridges or streetlights. When the reflection of light inters with little ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere, this phenomenon is the result. The light pillars are categorized as halos, since theyre caused by an interion with ice crystals. The reason these pillars arent considered just a light beam is because theyre not located directly above or below the light source, but its instead an optical illusion. \r
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3 - Bioluminescence – Bioluminescence occurs thanks to a marine plankton named Dinoflagellates. Dinoflagellates are organisms that use luminescence as a defense mechanism and are also carried by algal blooms in different areas of the world. The algal blooms who host the luminescent dinoflagellates, create the glowing scenes when the dinoflagellates are disturbed – only lighting for a second, but longer if theyre really, really disturbed. For instance, boats usually create the biggest disturbance and cause a much longer glow. There are also many marine animals who share in the bioluminescence – including fish, jellyfish, crustaceans and comb jellies.\r
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2 - Fairy circles – A fairy circle, also known as an elf circle or pixie ring, are rings or arcs of mushrooms that may grow over 33 feet in diameter. Usually found in forests, these magic circles have had their share of folk lore surrounding them. In German lore, they are said to be where witches dance at night. While, an Austrian tale has a dragon putting down his tail in the spot where the fairy circle exists, ensuring nothing but toadstools can live inside the circle for seven years. No matter what the tale is, almost all these stories warn against entering the circle or bad things will happen to you. \r
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1 - Aurora Borealis – One of the best known cases of natural phenomena is the Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights. The lights are ually collisions occurring between electrically charged particles from the sun that enter the earths atmosphere. Depending what kind of gas particle it is, the colors vary from a pale yellow to a bright green. The lights occur around 60 miles above the earth and some ually produce a rare red color up to 200 miles high. The Northern Lights can be best seen in Canada and Alaska, and can also be seen in Greenland and Iceland. Southern Lights do occur, however arent seen as clearly due to their concentration in a ring around Antarctica and the Indian Ocean.
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