6Brinicle: The icy finger of death
Dangerous weather phenomena don't only pose a danger to us land dwellers, but also threatens some of our friends of the sea.
Take the cool looking and bizarre brinicle. The brinicle is caused by cold, sinking brine (water saturated with salt). This happens when heat flows from the warmer sea up to the cold air, forming new ice from the bottom. The ice is pushed to the brine channels and because this saline water is more dense and colder than the rest of the seawater surrounding it, it sinks and freezes areas of the warmer sea water it comes into contact with.
When a brinicle hits the seabed it leaves a deadly web of ice that freezes anything that it comes into contact with, including sea urchins and starfish.
Careful, Aquaman!
7Green Flash: Blink and you'll miss it!
If you've ever seen a bit of green poking out from the sun during a sunrise or sunset it could be either of two things:
1) You're having an acid flashback
or
2) You are experiencing a natural phenomenon known as a green flash.
This phenomenon usually occurs during sunrise or sunset when more of the light reaches the observer without being scattered. The green of the flash is caused by light being bent and refracting in the atmosphere. The atmosphere acts as a prism, separating light into various colors. When the sun fully rises above the horizon, the different colors of the spectrum overlap, causing the spectrum to be invisible to the naked eye. It's called a flash because that's exactly what it is – the green only flashes for a few seconds at a time.
Now, if you did acid while experiencing this particular event, you might see a whole lot more than a green spot above the sun!
8Dirty thunderstorm: Tempest in a volcano
Let's get back to lightning simply because it's so damn cool!
Another truly fascinating and rare weather phenomenon is volcanic lightning, otherwise known as a dirty thunderstorm. Not only do you have the menacing appearance and danger of a volcano erupting, but add lightning to the mix and you've got one spine-chilling weather wonder!
Volcanic lightning occurs when lightning is produced in a volcanic plume. The process starts when particles separate, either after a collision or when a larger particle breaks in two. Some difference in the aerodynamics of these particles then causes the positively charged particles to separate from the negatively charged particles. Lightning occurs when this charge separation becomes too great for air to resist the flow of electricity. Volcanic eruptions also release large amounts of water, which can also help these thunderstorms along.
A bit of advice: If you see lightening coming from a volcanic eruption, get the hell out of there!
9Aurora Borealis: Nature's spectacular display of lights
We have to put the Aurora Borealis in here somewhere! This incredible occurrence of nature that happens above the magnetic poles in the north is also known as the Northern Lights. (The south has the same phenomenon, but is known as the Aurora Australis.)
What causes these auroral displays? Once again, it's all about collision. This incredible light show occurs when the gaseous particles of the earth's atmosphere collide with the charged particles from the sun that enter the earth's atmosphere. Typically seen closer to the poles and during the equinoxes of the year, these fantastic displays appear in many colors, although green and pink are the most common.
The Menominee Indians of Wisconsin believed the Northern Lights to be the location of the spirits of great hunters.
10Roll Clouds: Waves that tumble across the sky
Roll clouds are truly a sight to behold! Some have described these clouds as looking like toppled tornadoes. These types of arcus clouds are typically associated with thunderstorms.
Not to be confused with the similar shelf cloud, these rarities of nature occur when air temperatures invert and cause the warm air to be on top of the cool air. Wind then changes speed and direction and causes a rolling effect of these cylinder-type clouds.
Roll clouds need just the right amount of moisture to occur. The storm winds actually push the clouds into a tubular shape, which moves them ahead of the storm. They look like a giant rolling pin across the sky!
Dangerous weather phenomena don't only pose a danger to us land dwellers, but also threatens some of our friends of the sea.
Take the cool looking and bizarre brinicle. The brinicle is caused by cold, sinking brine (water saturated with salt). This happens when heat flows from the warmer sea up to the cold air, forming new ice from the bottom. The ice is pushed to the brine channels and because this saline water is more dense and colder than the rest of the seawater surrounding it, it sinks and freezes areas of the warmer sea water it comes into contact with.
When a brinicle hits the seabed it leaves a deadly web of ice that freezes anything that it comes into contact with, including sea urchins and starfish.
Careful, Aquaman!
7Green Flash: Blink and you'll miss it!
If you've ever seen a bit of green poking out from the sun during a sunrise or sunset it could be either of two things:
1) You're having an acid flashback
or
2) You are experiencing a natural phenomenon known as a green flash.
This phenomenon usually occurs during sunrise or sunset when more of the light reaches the observer without being scattered. The green of the flash is caused by light being bent and refracting in the atmosphere. The atmosphere acts as a prism, separating light into various colors. When the sun fully rises above the horizon, the different colors of the spectrum overlap, causing the spectrum to be invisible to the naked eye. It's called a flash because that's exactly what it is – the green only flashes for a few seconds at a time.
Now, if you did acid while experiencing this particular event, you might see a whole lot more than a green spot above the sun!
8Dirty thunderstorm: Tempest in a volcano
Let's get back to lightning simply because it's so damn cool!
Another truly fascinating and rare weather phenomenon is volcanic lightning, otherwise known as a dirty thunderstorm. Not only do you have the menacing appearance and danger of a volcano erupting, but add lightning to the mix and you've got one spine-chilling weather wonder!
Volcanic lightning occurs when lightning is produced in a volcanic plume. The process starts when particles separate, either after a collision or when a larger particle breaks in two. Some difference in the aerodynamics of these particles then causes the positively charged particles to separate from the negatively charged particles. Lightning occurs when this charge separation becomes too great for air to resist the flow of electricity. Volcanic eruptions also release large amounts of water, which can also help these thunderstorms along.
A bit of advice: If you see lightening coming from a volcanic eruption, get the hell out of there!
9Aurora Borealis: Nature's spectacular display of lights
We have to put the Aurora Borealis in here somewhere! This incredible occurrence of nature that happens above the magnetic poles in the north is also known as the Northern Lights. (The south has the same phenomenon, but is known as the Aurora Australis.)
What causes these auroral displays? Once again, it's all about collision. This incredible light show occurs when the gaseous particles of the earth's atmosphere collide with the charged particles from the sun that enter the earth's atmosphere. Typically seen closer to the poles and during the equinoxes of the year, these fantastic displays appear in many colors, although green and pink are the most common.
The Menominee Indians of Wisconsin believed the Northern Lights to be the location of the spirits of great hunters.
10Roll Clouds: Waves that tumble across the sky
Roll clouds are truly a sight to behold! Some have described these clouds as looking like toppled tornadoes. These types of arcus clouds are typically associated with thunderstorms.
Not to be confused with the similar shelf cloud, these rarities of nature occur when air temperatures invert and cause the warm air to be on top of the cool air. Wind then changes speed and direction and causes a rolling effect of these cylinder-type clouds.
Roll clouds need just the right amount of moisture to occur. The storm winds actually push the clouds into a tubular shape, which moves them ahead of the storm. They look like a giant rolling pin across the sky!
