Weird And Wonderful Natural Phenomena

There are such weird and wonderful natural phenomena that you will be surprised when you see all of them!

Manannan’s Cloak, Isle of Man

Thick sea fog occasionally covers the island’s lowland- named after the island’s ancient Sea God who was believed to swath his kingdom in mist in order to prevent intruders from entering.

Namibia’s Fairy Circles, Namibia

Originally thought by the Himba people to be caused by the Gods, in modern times the sand termite and competition between plant species have also been blamed.

Sailing Stones, Death Valley, USA

Rocks move along the valley floor with no intervention. A mystery for decades, it has recently been found to be caused by ice sheets that are driven by light winds.

The Giant’s Causeway, Northern Island

Legend states that the columns are the remains of a causeway built by a giant to meet another in order to fight. The columns were actually created as a result of lava flow cooling and cracking.

Kjeragbolten Boulder, Norway

A boulder lodged between two mountains, caused by moving rock formations and sea level rising during the last glacial period, around 50,000 BC.

Bioluminescent Waves, Vaadhoo Island, Maldives

Phytoplankton In the waves glow light blue and light top waves, believed to be due to a special channel in their cell membrane.

Morning Glory Clouds, Northern Australia

A long cloud waveform can be up to 100km long and often only 100-200m above the ground. This could type only predictably occurs in northern Australia.

The Great Blue Hole, Belize

A large, circular submarine sinkhole with stretches 984 feet across and reaches 407 feet deep. formed before sea levels rose, it’s a popular scuba diving site.

Hessdalen Light, Norway

An unexplained light that occurs in the Hessdalen valley. Appears as a bright white light floating above the ground. Activity peaked between 1982 and 1984 but still occurs 10-20 times per year.

Underwater Crop Circles, Japan

The male pufferfish creates underwater crop circles in order to attract mates. These circles are around 7 feet in diameter and take around 8 days to complete.

Christmas Island Crabs, Christmas Island

The annual breeding of over 40 million red crabs is so vast in number that fences have been set up to protect crabs from cars, and cars from crab shells which can puncture tyres.

Dirty thunderstorm, Erupting Volcano

Lightning which occurs in a volcanic plume. Rock fragments ash and ice particles from the plume collide to produce static charges, which create lightning.

Aurora Borealis, Northern Hemisphere

The ‘Northern Lights’ is caused by charged particles from cosmic rays ionizing atmospheric constituents, resulting in light emission as a result of excitation.

Rainbow Eucalyptus, Northern Hemisphere

Patches of outer bark shes annually at different times, Exposing a green inner bark that turns blue, purple, orange, and maroon as it matures.

Lenticular Clouds, Sky

These stationary lens-shaped clouds form in the troposphere and can be seen in various locations across the world. They are often used to explain reported UFO sightings.

Rainbow, Sky

Rainbows are formed due to reflection, refraction and dispersion of water droplets- creating the spectrum of light to appear.

Fallstreak Holes, Sky

A portion of clouds containing super-cooled water droplets freezes, creating ice crystals. This draws in the surrounding water and punches a hole in the center of the cloud.

Total Solar Eclipse, Sky

Due to their difference in size and distance from the earth being in almost perfect ratio, the moon can sometimes totally block the sun during its orbit of the earth.

A Red Sunset, Horizon

The sun’s light must travel further through the atmosphere to reach the eye. This scatters the light- and red, having the longest wavelength, is the last to be scattered.

Frost Flowers, Lakes/ Oceans

Ice crystals that are formed on lake ice in cold, calm conditions. A large ice air temperature difference is required for formation.

Brinicles, Oceans

Form beneath sea ice when sub-zero saline water is introduced to an area of ocean water. The minerals fall to the bottom, freezing the surrounding water and forming brinicles.

Waterspout, Oceans

A spinning column of air and water- waterspouts can be created by tornadoes that develop during thunderstorms.

Penitentes, High Altitudes

Tall and thin blades of snow or ice form at high altitudes, via sublimation, when the water goes straight from gas to solid state without becoming liquid.

Fire Whirls, Forests

When a tornado encounters a forest fire it can suck up the flames, resulting in the creation of an incredible fire whirl.

The Great Red Spot, Space

The Great Red Spot is a giant hurricane-esque storm the width of three Earth that has persisted on Jupiter for over 400 years.

Gliese 436b, Space

This planet is 30 light-years away from earth. Ice on its surface is forced to stay in solid form due to the immense gravity, despite the temperature being in excess of 400C

A Ninth Planet?, Space

Computer models have suggested that Jupiter’s gravity may have thrown a planet the size of Neptune out of our Solar System early on, leading to the order of planets we recognize today.

Synaesthesia, Humans

Synaesthesia is the phenomenon in which the stimulation of one sense elicits the involuntary sensation of another, for example auditory stimuli can elicit color sensation.