Wanna know if a solar storm is about to crash the cosmic party? Keep an eye on your gadgets – if they start acting wonky, it might be a sign that the sun is feeling feisty. And speaking of fiery situations, volcanoes might be sending smoke signals before they blow – keep an ear out for rumblings and earthy shivers. Oh, and earthquakes? Animals might just have a sixth sense about them, so if Fluffy starts acting funky, it's time to brace yourself. Tsunamis? Watch the shoreline – if it suddenly empties out like a bathtub, you might want to beat a hasty retreat. And don't forget your tornado dance – if the sky starts swirling and sirens start singing, it's time to seek shelter!
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#brightside
Animation is created by Bright Side.
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Music from TheSoul Sound: https://thesoul-sound.com/
Listen to Bright Side on:
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD...
Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id...
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00 Electronic satellites suddenly go out of control.
00:04 There are voltage surges across the globe.
00:07 In some places, there's a complete blackout.
00:11 Scientists have little data on this incredible solar behavior, so we're still unable to
00:15 accurately predict how or when exactly the next geomagnetic storm will happen.
00:22 One such event took place back in July 2012, but thankfully it missed us.
00:27 Not by far, though, by a mere 9 days.
00:31 Just to give you a glimpse of what nearly happened, I need to explain some astronomical
00:36 basics.
00:37 A solar storm is a series of effects we feel here on Earth after certain events occur on
00:42 the Sun.
00:44 Our star is nothing more than a huge ball of molten gases that are constantly moving
00:49 around, so these events happen more often than you'd think.
00:54 For a solar storm to begin, our Sun needs to emit bursts of energy.
00:58 They're in the form of solar flares and coronal mass ejections.
01:03 These two phenomena send electrical charges and waves of magnetic fields toward the Earth
01:08 at an astonishing speed of about 3 million miles per hour.
01:14 When these solar storms reach our planet, we can see northern lights displaying locations
01:19 close to the Arctic Circle, but they can also mess up satellites or other types of electronic
01:24 communications.
01:26 Some of these solar storms can be dangerous, and back in 2012, we came close to experiencing
01:33 a very powerful one that could have had a serious outcome.
01:37 The most powerful in as much as 150+ years based on research done by astronomers.
01:44 But how did we manage to escape it?
01:46 Did we have something to do with it, or was it just a pure coincidence?
01:52 What we do know is that one of those coronal mass ejections did hit the Earth's orbit
01:57 in late July 2012.
02:00 Our planet had already left that specific location as it was on its scheduled trajectory
02:05 around the Sun.
02:07 So you might be asking yourself at this point, "what if it didn't miss us?"
02:12 Turns out, these intense solar storms are dangerous to all sorts of technological objects.
02:18 Given we are now literally surrounded by electric objects, from our phones to our cars, try
02:24 to imagine what would happen if they all stopped working all of a sudden.
02:28 And here's how they work.
02:31 Solar storms start with an explosion, or a solar flare.
02:35 Then X-rays and UV radiation travel to our Earth at the speed of light.
02:40 Some of the side effects?
02:41 Well, they can include radio blackouts and GPS navigation errors.
02:46 The effects can continue as minutes, or at times hours later, energetic particles reach
02:51 our atmosphere.
02:53 They move only a bit slower than the speed of light, but they can electrically shock
02:57 the Earth's satellites and damage their components.
03:01 Lastly, about a day later, clouds of magnetized plasma reach us as well.
03:07 They can cause huge power blackouts, more or less paralyzing everything with an electrical
03:13 plug.
03:14 We might not even be able to flush our toilets, since most water supplies in cities use electric
03:20 pumps these days.
03:22 The effects of these geomagnetic storms would be different around the world, though.
03:27 Solar storms are curious by themselves, but why do they affect some locations on Earth
03:32 more than others?
03:34 Based on recent research, geology has a lot to do with it.
03:38 But I need to take you back a bit to paint you the bigger picture.
03:42 Buckle up, 'cause we're taking a trip in the time machine… to a time when the Moon
03:47 didn't even exist… yet.
03:50 4.6 billion years ago, our solar system looked a lot different than it does now, and that's
03:56 putting it lightly.
03:58 Hundreds of new planets began to form around the new Sun.
04:01 Planets like our own Earth, Venus, or Mars were still hurtling around the cosmos.
04:07 Back in the 1970s, an astronomer named Donald R. Davis developed a theory that said the
04:13 Moon was born when another planet hit a newly formed Earth about 4.5 billion years ago.
04:21 He also indicated that it might have been the size of Mars, and later named this planet
04:26 Theia.
04:28 It's difficult to imagine what that impact might've looked like, even with the equipment
04:32 we have these days.
04:34 The astronomer suggested the giant impact hypothesis trying to piece together this mystery.
04:41 After running into our planet, the outer rocky layers of both Earth and Theia were projected
04:46 into a circle of cosmic matter.
04:49 Out of this debris, what we now know as the Moon was born.
04:53 The Earth's core has apparently consumed Theia's iron core, that is, if it had any.
05:00 Our planet also got into the position it occupies today.
05:04 This way, it became more susceptible to geomagnetic storms.
05:08 Back then, there was little to no information as to what might've happened to Theia, apart
05:13 from giving us our only natural satellite.
05:16 It took several years for a series of scientists to come up with an exciting new idea that
05:22 revolutionized what we knew about our planet.
05:25 What was left out of Theia is hiding under two continent-sized layers of rock deep within
05:31 our planet.
05:33 This theory is also one of the only explanations for why the Moon is so dry and doesn't have
05:39 much of an iron core.
05:41 But why is geology so important when it comes to geomagnetic storms?
05:45 Well, that's because recent data revealed that the type of rocks below your feet can
05:51 affect how well your city adapts after powerful geomagnetic storms.
05:57 Some types of rock, like sedimentary rocks, for example, generally have more space filled
06:03 with water, which makes them electrically conductive.
06:07 Other types of rocks are denser and have more resistance when it comes to electricity.
06:13 Whenever such a storm happens, people living in the New England highlands may have a higher
06:18 risk of experiencing major disruptions.
06:21 At the same time, those in the mid-Atlantic coastal plain have less to worry about simply
06:26 due to what's hidden beneath their cities.
06:29 Rocks rolling down the slopes of a rumbling volcano, pushing other bigger rocks on their
06:34 way, and eventually tumbling down into the ocean in a humongous cascade, causing a wave
06:40 the height of which the world's never seen before.
06:44 This is what might happen if the Halina Slump of the Hawaiian Big Island falls off into
06:49 the water.
06:50 The Kilauea Volcano is far from dormant.
06:53 The latest eruption occurred in 2018.
06:56 Its eruptions are usually accompanied by earthquakes of different magnitudes, and with each quake,
07:01 the magma rocks on the slopes of the volcano shift down.
07:05 These rock formations are called slumps, and the Halina Slump is the most notorious of
07:10 them all.
07:11 In 1868, the shift of this slump caused a tidal wave rising as tall as 60 feet.
07:17 What's most troubling is that some 110,000 years ago, a landslide here led to one of
07:24 the most powerful earthquakes ever, which in turn led to a mega-tsunami of over 1,000
07:30 feet in height.
07:31 Scientists are worried that such an event may repeat in the future.
07:34 If that happens, the wave might engulf the whole of Hawaii and easily reach both North
07:40 and South American coasts.
07:43 Geologists are quick to reassure, though, that a landslide like this is unlikely to
07:47 occur anytime soon.
07:48 It's just too early for that.
07:50 But when it finally does, the consequences will be catastrophic.
07:55 Have a nice day!
07:57 Yellowstone National Park in the Western USA is world-famous for its dazzling views, and
08:03 especially the colorful Grand Prismatic Spring at its very heart.
08:07 But we should all stay aware that Yellowstone is, first and foremost, an enormous caldera
08:13 – basically a slumbering supervolcano.
08:16 The difference between a regular volcano like Kilauea from earlier and a supervolcano is
08:22 that the latter is thousands of times more powerful.
08:25 Imagine an eruption spewing tons of huge rock and rivers of hot lava, pumping out clouds
08:31 of ash that make countries stop air travel for weeks.
08:34 And now multiply all of this by a thousand.
08:38 This is what a Yellowstone eruption would look like.
08:41 At first, a huge area in the middle of the National Park would shake, crumble, and then
08:46 blast upwards in a megaton explosion.
08:49 Lava flows and magma rocks would cover the area of about 40 square miles – roughly
08:54 half of Washington, D.C.
08:56 But the greatest danger is the volcanic ash.
08:59 The ashen plume would rise miles above and get carried by the wind in every direction.
09:05 Since the eruption would be far from ordinary, the spread and damage would also be much greater
09:10 than usual.
09:11 The ash is thick and heavy, so it would cover a vast area in a blanket, destroying crops
09:17 and even buildings.
09:18 Worse still, it would spread in the air and block out the sun, leading to a drastic drop
09:24 in temperature and an artificial winter.
09:27 Even regular volcanoes can lower temperatures worldwide by a few degrees.
09:31 A supervolcano may potentially cause a new ice age.
09:35 Luckily, the chances of Yellowstone's supervolcano erupting in the near future, or at all, are
09:41 extremely low.
09:42 There have been only three of those in the history of Earth, and there's no evidence
09:46 such a disaster should repeat.
09:49 Scientists estimate the probability at 0.00014%, which is lower than the chances of an asteroid
09:56 wiping us all out.
09:58 Speaking of which…
10:00 If dinosaurs could talk, and were at least still alive for that matter, they'd tell
10:04 you that asteroid threat is as real as it gets.
10:08 Scientists at NASA say they've tracked 90% of all near-Earth asteroids of significant
10:13 size, and none of them are a matter of any concern.
10:16 But there are still the other 10% in the great unknown.
10:20 What's more, asteroids can change their line of flight because of the pull of other
10:25 celestial bodies, and eventually turn our way.
10:29 Lucky us!
10:30 Now, if an asteroid big enough, like a mile across, hits the Earth, it will first cause
10:35 an explosion powerful enough to erase a dozen big cities in a matter of seconds.
10:40 Then the impact will raise a cloud of dust and debris that will block out the Sun, just
10:45 like the ash cloud from a volcano, and cause a centuries-long winter on the whole planet.
10:51 But even if it falls into the ocean, which is more likely, a resulting wave will rise
10:55 several miles high, washing coastal cities off the face of the planet.
11:00 But at least there won't be a new Ice Age.
11:02 Although scientists are pretty sure there's no such threat in the near future, it can't
11:07 be ruled out completely, and humanity needs at least 5 years to prepare for this event.
11:13 If a big near-Earth asteroid suddenly changes its course and turns right toward our planet,
11:18 we won't stand a chance against it.
11:20 Disaster movie, anyone?
11:22 A much more probable calamity, though, rests right beneath our feet.
11:26 It's the San Andreas Fault in California.
11:29 The fault has been ready for rupture for years now, and scientists estimate that an earthquake
11:34 along this line is likely to occur in the next three decades.
11:39 And when it happens, it won't be nice.
11:41 They expect a magnitude of 8.0, which is comparable to some of the most devastating quakes in
11:47 history.
11:48 This is John.
11:50 John seems to attract all kinds of bad weather and natural disasters wherever he goes.
11:55 See for yourself.
11:57 One day, John notices his dog is restless.
12:00 The pooch keeps scratching the entrance door and wandering around the house.
12:03 He even tries to hide in the corner, howling and barking.
12:07 When some mugs start to clink in your cupboard, John realizes what it means.
12:11 The noise is produced by foreshocks.
12:14 Mini earthquakes leading up to the main event.
12:18 Earthquakes often happen in clusters.
12:20 After a few weak quakes, a much bigger one is likely to be on the way.
12:26 Sometime before the disaster strikes, people might notice bizarre blue lights.
12:30 Some of them seem to be coming out of the ground.
12:33 Others are hovering in the air.
12:35 These are earthquake lights.
12:37 They may appear days or mere seconds before the ground starts shaking.
12:42 Now John is walking along the ocean shore.
12:45 Suddenly, he sees the water retreat from the beach really, really fast.
12:50 Uh-oh.
12:51 John, run away as quickly as you can and find some high ground.
12:54 A tsunami is coming.
12:56 And your life might depend on how fast you react.
13:00 If John spots a bizarre and unexpected rise in sea level, it can be another sign of an
13:04 approaching tsunami.
13:06 This happens in 40% of cases.
13:09 The incoming water is the first tsunami wave.
13:12 The second one, way, way larger, will come in in about 10 minutes.
13:17 John can also notice seawater bubbling, swirling, and creating bizarre patterns.
13:22 It's another sure sign a tsunami is near.
13:26 Hmm.
13:27 John feels there's something strange about the sun.
13:30 Through his special super dark sunglasses, he sees that there's some uneven flares around
13:35 the star's contour.
13:37 If these bizarre rays are accompanied by auroras all over the world, they're a sign of a solar
13:42 storm.
13:44 Such storms are usually caused by disturbances in the sun's magnetic field.
13:48 In this case, the bursts of gas and radiation on the surface of the sun get so massive and
13:53 powerful that they can even reach our planet.
13:57 Luckily, solar storms aren't really dangerous for people, but they can mess with electricity
14:02 and even cause blackouts.
14:05 The sky over John's head is darkening and turning ominously green.
14:09 Something hits him on the forehead.
14:11 Ouch!
14:12 He picks up the offending object.
14:14 It's a hailstone.
14:15 But it's not that cold outside, and it's not raining.
14:18 Soon he hears some noise.
14:21 It's approaching rapidly and turns into a loud roar.
14:24 It sounds as if a freight train is moving towards him, but it's not a train.
14:28 It's a tornado.
14:30 The funnel isn't visible behind a cloud of debris, but John can't mistake this rotating
14:35 column of air for anything else.
14:38 Are you on the road, John?
14:39 Then get as far away from your car as you can.
14:41 Fast!
14:42 If you get in a ditch, lie down in it and cover your head.
14:45 Oh, you're inside?
14:46 Then get away from the windows and hide underground if possible.
14:50 And please, John, be very careful if you spot some conically shaped clouds.
14:55 Those mean severe storms, and if you notice that such a cloud starts spinning around,
15:00 immediately search for shelter.
15:02 The cloud is transitioning into a tornado right in front of your eyes.
15:07 On the bright side, John should only worry about warm conical clouds.
15:11 Cold ones are totally harmless.
15:13 The only problem is to figure out the temperature of the cloud he sees.
15:17 Duh!
15:18 Ah, look!
15:20 John just spotted some weirdly shaped trees.
15:22 They look like the letter J and grow on a slope.
15:25 It means the ground under John's feet is likely to be unstable.
15:30 If he keeps wandering around, it can cause a bad landslide.
15:34 Square waves appear when two different wave patterns crash into each other.
15:38 This phenomenon does look kinda awesome.
15:41 No, don't go into the water, John!
15:43 Keep watching it from the shore.
15:44 Cross currents in that spot can easily pull even a skilled swimmer under the surface.
15:50 John keeps walking along the shore.
15:52 At one point, he sees wild, choppy waves carrying ocean debris and seaweed.
15:57 This time, he stays out of the water.
15:59 He knows it can be a sign of a strong rip current.
16:03 It can carry a swimmer far away into the ocean.
16:07 How about a walk in the park?
16:09 John likes this idea.
16:11 The sun is shining and the sky is so blue and beautiful.
16:15 Suddenly, he spots a rapidly growing vertical cloud.
16:18 At first, it looks bright white.
16:21 But as it approaches, alarmingly fast, it becomes dense and inky.
16:26 The sky is darkening.
16:27 It's getting windy.
16:29 That's when the guy notices that his hair stands on end.
16:32 It's his cue that he's about to get hit by lightning.
16:35 At this very moment, positive charges are rising through his body.
16:39 They're reaching towards the negatively charged part of the storm.
16:42 If he doesn't react fast, these charges will meet.
16:46 There's nowhere to hide, so John should crouch down and try to make himself smaller than
16:50 the objects around him.
16:52 Oh no, John, don't lie down on the ground.
16:55 It may be damp and thus a great conductor of electricity.
17:00 There are other signs that scream danger during a lightning storm.
17:04 John's palms may begin to sweat.
17:05 He might hear bizarre crackling and buzzing sounds coming from metal objects nearby.
17:11 His skin can start tingling.
17:13 There might be a strange metallic taste in his mouth.
17:16 Plus, John is likely to smell chlorine.
17:19 That's how ozone smells.
17:21 Boom!
17:22 This word isn't nearly enough to illustrate the explosion, the most powerful one you've
17:27 ever seen.
17:28 And what's most important, it's a lake that's just blown up.
17:31 Hey, all you wanted to do is light up some fireworks in this picturesque place.
17:36 But you must've totally missed the "Danger!
17:38 Strictly no fire" warning sign along the way.
17:41 And now, the wall of fuming water is quickly closing in on you!
17:45 But first, let's rewind to the beginning of the whole thing.
17:49 You're in Alberta, Canada and have just arrived to Abraham Lake for a hike of your life.
17:55 The lake is frozen, and the view is awesome.
17:58 Those bubbles under the ice look like hundreds of frozen jellyfish.
18:02 In reality, they're made of methane, a toxic and highly flammable gas produced by bacteria
18:09 living on the bottom of the lake.
18:10 That's why the sign is there.
18:13 If you so much as light a match on this ice, it might set the whole thing on fire.
18:17 Luckily, you've taken note of it on the way here and put away the fireworks you wanted
18:22 to light up.
18:24 Another place, another time.
18:26 Another lake.
18:27 This one's not frozen.
18:29 In fact, it probably hasn't seen a winter since the last ice age.
18:33 We're in Cameroon now, and the place is called Lake Nyos.
18:37 It looks peaceful, but make no mistake, its orange-brown waters hide a deadly secret.
18:43 The lake rests atop a highly volatile area, and the fissures in its bottom let out massive
18:49 amounts of carbon dioxide.
18:51 When the ground shifts, this gas spills out of the lake and flows miles around it.
18:57 The concentrations are so high that one breath of it would make you faint, and you'd have
19:02 zero chance of waking up.
19:04 You get the picture.
19:05 But the most sinister thing about it is that the CO2 doesn't have a smell or color, so
19:11 you wouldn't even see it coming.
19:13 Local authorities have set up a system of pipes that drains the gas from the lake, making
19:18 it relatively safe for people and animals in the vicinity.
19:22 And another toxic lake, Kivu, on the border of Congo and Rwanda, has even been made to
19:27 provide energy for millions of people thanks to its gases.
19:32 While we're in Africa, the Danikil Depression in Ethiopia is also worth a blood-curdling
19:38 visit.
19:39 Dubbed the hottest place on Earth, it sure lives up to its name.
19:42 The ravine is peppered with extremely hot springs, toxic acid ponds, and active volcanoes.
19:49 The landscape is surreal, to say the least, and it's probably the only inhabited place
19:54 on Earth where no life can exist.
19:57 The Afar people live here all year round and gather salt around the springs for trade,
20:02 while scientists couldn't find any evidence of microbial life in those.
20:07 Humans are notorious for settling in places most would gladly avoid.
20:11 Take Mount Tambora in Indonesia.
20:14 Millions of people have been living on and around its slopes for centuries until the
20:18 fateful day in 1815.
20:21 Tambora is a volcano, and that year it decided to erupt, resulting in a blast that obliterated
20:28 everything on the island and was heard almost a thousand miles away.
20:33 It spewed out so much volcanic ash that it fell in sheets on the surrounding isles and
20:38 caused a year without a summer in the whole northern hemisphere.
20:42 It was the most powerful eruption in the last 10,000 years, and Mount Tambora became as
20:47 much as 5,000 feet lower after it.
20:51 But back to our time.
20:52 There's an island you won't be allowed to visit, but I bet you wouldn't want to
20:57 anyway.
20:58 The Snake Island in Brazil is home to thousands of snakes, as its name implies.
21:03 The moment you step on its soil, you're in grave danger of being bitten by a viper.
21:08 The island is also the only place you can meet a golden lancehead viper – the encounter
21:13 of a lifetime, literally.
21:15 This place is so dangerous that Brazil has banned tourists and any other visitors from
21:20 it unconditionally.
21:21 Okay, gotta go!
21:24 Get your warmest clothes on and don't forget a fur face mask!
21:28 We're going to Omyak in Russia.
21:30 It's a small town in the far north that's often called the coldest place on the planet
21:35 where people still live.
21:36 The only place with a lower average temperature is Antarctica, and that's saying something!
21:42 In the winter, if you so much as forget to put on a sweater, another sweater, another
21:47 sweater, and a fur coat, you'll get frozen to the bone in mere seconds.
21:52 Temperatures here drop to the chilling -96°F. Fresh fruit turns to chunks of ice in minutes
21:59 and becomes so hard you could drive nails into wood with an apple here.
22:04 Now before you freeze in place, let's go somewhere no boat will take you – the Skeleton
22:09 Coast in Namibia.
22:10 No, really, you can only drive or fly in here because boats and ships won't go near the
22:16 place.
22:17 The waters are treacherous, sudden gales toss vessels around, and sharp rocks hiding underwater
22:23 are all too happy to ram into their hulls.
22:26 The coast itself stretches for hundreds of miles and is divided into southern and northern
22:31 parts.
22:32 Tours on all-terrain vehicles are allowed freely into the southern part, but only about
22:37 800 people a year can get to the northern one and only with guided tours.
22:42 People are known to have been lost in this desert forever, and it's a daunting place
22:46 to go.
22:47 It got its name from numerous animal carcasses found here.
22:51 Still, about 50,000 indigenous people managed to survive in this place along with adapted
22:57 animals, lizards, hyenas, and even elephants.
23:02 Don't expect a living destruction machine anywhere but the heart of Europe.
23:05 Naples, one of the most famous cities in Italy, is built on top of an active supervolcano.
23:12 In 2018, scientists noticed this monster of a mountain was building up magma in its depths.
23:18 They say it isn't likely to erupt in the near future, but there's a smaller yet no
23:24 less dangerous volcano just a few miles off – the infamous Vesuvius.
23:29 You might remember it for the immolation of the Roman city of Pompeii about 2,000 years
23:35 ago.
23:36 You might, but I wasn't around then.
23:39 This one has been active for a long while, and both citizens and guests of Naples put
23:43 their lives at stake every single day they spend in town.
23:47 But hey, while you're there, try the pizza!
23:50 That's it for today!
23:51 So hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your
23:55 friends! Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the Bright Side!