We are only small grains of sand compared to the vast, incomprehensible world that surrounds us. In it constantly occur unimaginable and often unexplained natural phenomena.
In the age of high technology, we have the opportunity to see unique natural phenomena and anomalies captured by a professional camera or an accidental witness. We still have much to explore and discover, but here are the most impressive pictures, worthy of admiration.
1. Shimmering shore
Such an amazingly beautiful effect, as if the night sky with a myriad of stars reflected on the seashore, or as a flickering wave rolls over a deserted beach, is possible due to the biomass microorganisms that live in seawater near the shore and glow in the dark.
2. Art in the cold: ice flowers ...
Amazing ice formations can be observed on the border of autumn and winter in the northern seas, when the solid ice was still formed, but the temperature had already dropped to -22ᵒC.
... and ice tapes.
3. Light columns
Such an interesting phenomenon is most often found in the coldest parts of our planet, but sometimes it is also observed in more southerly latitudes: the rays of sunlight or moonlight are reflected in the ice crystals present in the atmosphere and create the extraordinary effect of huge light columns that go to the endless sky.
4. Frozen gas bubbles
Ice-bound methane bubbles create a unique ice pattern on Lake Alberta in Canada.
5. Iridescent clouds
This beautiful optical illusion is possible thanks to the play of light on ice crystals in the upper layers of cirrus clouds.
6. Volcanic lightning
This stunning natural phenomenon, also called a dirty thunderstorm, is the result of a collision of ash and volcanic gases in an ash cloud and the release of a significant amount of water during a volcanic eruption. Since ash and gases have unlike charges, this leads to the formation of light flashes, and the collision of different states of water (ice and droplets) causes volcanic lightning.
7. Smoking snow pipes
Picturesque smoking pipes from snow are craters of arctic volcanoes.
8. Malstrom
These mysterious water funnels with a diameter of up to 50 m and a depth of up to 1 m are the most powerful tidal whirlwinds and whirlpools in the world that form in the Norwegian Sea on the border with the Atlantic Ocean.
9. Moving stones
A mysterious phenomenon, which has no precise explanation until now, occurs on the dried-up Lake Reystrake-Playa in the Valley of Death (USA): stones of different sizes move independently along the bottom of the lake, leaving a trace on the surface of a depth of not more than 2.5 cm and a length of several tens , and even hundreds of meters. In this case, stones often change the direction of movement, which can be clearly seen from their trajectory.
10. Migration of the starling
These are not frames from the film "The Mummy" and not a swarm of bees - thousands of starlings gather in a pack and circle in the sky, acting as a single, constantly transforming mechanism, forming fanciful figures in the sky. To date, the nature of this mysterious phenomenon is not fully understood.
11. Circles on the sand
Such mystical circles on our planet are found only in two places: the most famous in the Namib Desert in southwest Africa, and in 2014 were discovered in the Pilbara desert in Australia. Although scientists are not yet able to explain the reasons for the appearance of circles, long-term observations have shown that they have a certain life cycle of 30 to 60 years from the time of occurrence (diameter of about 2 m) and to a mysterious disappearance when the circle size reaches 12 m.
12. Spotted lake
Spotted Lake, or "Spotted Lake" is the only water reservoir in its kind with the world's largest concentration of magnesium, calcium, sodium, silver and titanium sulfate. In winter and spring, the lake looks no different from the ordinary, with the difference that it does not contain fish, and water is not suitable for drinking or bathing. But as the temperature of the air rises, the water begins to evaporate and many islands of minerals are exposed, along which it is possible to walk, and the surface of the lake is covered with spots, colored in different colors. Interestingly, when the temperature rises to 43ᵒC, 365 spots are formed on the lake - by the number of days in a year.
13. Circles on the ocean floor
No, this is not the result of an underwater landing of aliens: a two-meter figure in the sand built a 12-centimeter male fugu fish, hoping in such an extravagant way to attract the attention of the female.
14. Favorite Flamingo Lake
15. Lightning Catatumbo
A tremendous natural phenomenon can be observed in Venezuela. In the place where the Katatumbo River flows into Lake Maracaibo, there is the largest number of lightning strikes in the year with a concentration that does not happen anywhere else on our planet: 260 nights a year for 10 hours at a frequency of 280 times per hour. Lightnings illuminate everything for many kilometers around, so this natural phenomenon has for centuries been used in navigation under the name "Maracaibo Lighthouse".
16. The course of sardines
Huge shoals of sardines go to spawn - this natural phenomenon occurs every year in the first two summer months near the coast of South Africa. The size of fish packs that include millions of individuals is impressive: more than 7 km in length, 1.5 km in width and 30 m in depth. In case of danger, the fish are knocked down into dense lumps of 10-20 m and can stay there for up to 10 minutes.
17. Clouds-lenses
The so-called lenticular or lenticular clouds can be seen extremely rarely. This is the only kind of cloud that does not go away, no matter how strong the wind. They are formed either on the tops of air waves, or between two layers of air, so most often such cloudy lenses appear over mountain tops and foreshadow bad weather.
18. The Reds are coming!
A huge number of moving red creatures on the ocean shore - the spectacle is amazing, beautiful and frightening at the same time. About 43 million red crabs that live solely on Christmas Island and the nearby Cocos Islands (Australia), each year at the same time, massively leave their homes and rush to the ocean to lay eggs in the water.
19. The road of the giants
These columns, going into the sea, seem to be hewn by a skilled mason. In fact, 40,000 basaltic pillars on the shores of Northern Ireland are of volcanic origin.
20. Funny Clouds
Cumulus clouds can sometimes take an unusual shape and resemble children's toys.