Mother Nature never stops surprising us with her breathtaking view, so weird it may
look sometimes as if it’s out of this world.
From glowing beaches and ice circles, these natural wonders surely make one
believe that there’s so much left to see in this world, provided you know when and
where to look.
Bioluminescent Waves
Observe the ocean, which will be glowing in an ethereal blue lined with tiny organisms creating light displays along shorelines in the Maldives. These can get rather magical and happen all year round but are best during moonless nights between June and October when millions of dinoflagellates line up chemical reactions that make the waves glow.
Fire Rainbow
Behold these colorful but rather rare atmospheric halos – sometimes better known as
circumhorizontal arcs – which can be seen from the skies above any high-altitude
location. These also go by the name ‘fire rainbows’ – this occurs when the sun
passes through ice crystals in high-level cirrus clouds at precisely 58 degrees,
creating this phenomenal spectrum of colors that gives off a flame-like appearance.
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Sailing Stones
Behold the mystifying mobile boulders of Racetrack Playa at Death Valley: boulders
leave long trails in the desert floor. In 2014, scientists finally solved this mystery –
thin sheets of winter ice, wind, and just-right temperature conditions let these rocks
‘sail’ across the playa.
Snow Donuts
Find these rare natural sculptures in open fields when precise combinations of
temperature, wind, and snow conditions align. The hollow snow cylinders form when
the wind rolls a chunk of snow across a landscape, forming perfect cylindrical
shapes that look just like a big donut.
Nacreous Clouds
Marvel at these polar stratospheric clouds, glowing in iridescent colors during twilight
hours in polar regions. Their wave-like patterns and vivid colors appear when the
setting sun sets ice crystals at high altitudes aglow, creating one of Earth’s most
beautiful atmospheric displays.
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Blood Falls
See the rust-colored water cascading down Taylor Glacier in Antarctica’s Dry
Valleys. The reddish-colored waterfall above is colored by iron-rich hypersaline water
that seeps out of an underwater lake that’s millions of years old. This striking red
waterfall cuts through the white glacier below.
Light Pillars
Just try to spot on cold winter nights a beam of light that seems to shoot upwards
from the ground. These types of optical phenomena occur due to the reflection of
light against ice crystals floating in the air, creating spectacular columns that may
easily be mistaken for aurora borealis.
Morning Glory Cloud
Chase this rare meteorological phenomenon in Northern Australia, where a huge
rolling cloud formation fills the horizon. Sometimes reaching as far as 621.4 miles,
this tubular cloud lures glider pilots, who surf the air masses, up its powerful
updrafts.
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Frost Flowers
Learn about these rare, feathery ice formations that blossom on newly created sea
ice in polar regions. Delicate lacy patterns develop when conditions are right for
water vapor to bypass the liquid phase and turn directly into ice in a process that
resembles the botanical process of blooming.
Spherical Stone Concretions
Learn about the perfectly spherical stone balls located at New Zealand’s Moeraki
Boulders and other places around the world. These geological curiosities came
about over millions of years as mineral cement precipitated around a core, creating
fantastically spherical formations.
Underwater Crop Circles
Dive to discover the intricate sand patterns built by male pufferfish in the waters off
Japan. This is an extraordinary display of artistic precision in the natural world, with
these large circular designs, some reaching up to seven feet in diameter, created by
a small fish to entice a mate.
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Steam Devils
Watch these steam columns form over lakes and seas when cold air passes over
much warmer water. These little thermal whirlwinds stretch several hundred feet into
the air to create otherworldly spinning columns that can be seen during cold winter
mornings.
Mammatus Clouds
Behold in awe after violent thunderstorms to see these freakish clouds that take the
appearance of bubble wrap hanging off the sky. Their characteristic pouchy features
occur when cold air falls out of the bottom of a cloud, creating one heck of a
breathtaking yet somewhat menacing spectacle of the sky.
Rainbow Eucalyptus
Stand under these technicolor trees of tropical forests, whose barks naturally peel to
expose bright green inner layers – smoothly changing colors as different layers age,
creating a natural rainbow on the trunk to expose striking strips of red, orange, blue,
and purple.
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Ice Circles
Find these perfect circles of ice slowly rotating in river bends during winter months.
Forming when river currents create a slow rotating eddy, which gradually grinds
away surrounding ice until a perfect circle remains.
Square Waves
Behold this dangerous yet fascinating cross-sea phenomenon, where two wave
systems meet at right angles to each other. This anomalous pattern forms a
checkerboard appearance on the surface of the ocean and is most spectacularly
seen from the lighthouse at the Isle of Rhe in France.
Dirty Thunderstorms
Lightning lights up volcanic eruption plumes uncommon sight that occurs when static
electricity in the air causes ash particles to collide. When these forces come together, billowing volcanic clouds light up from the inside with lightning.
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Living Rocks
Reach out and touch these bizarre marine animals that line the coast of Chile,
resembling perfect stones but ancient species of sea squirts. These incredible
examples of camouflage evolution blur the line between the animal and mineral
kingdoms.
Brinicles
Observe how underwater icicles form in polar seas, where super-cooled brine can
take on finger-like protrusions of ice that freeze everything they touch. These ‘ice
stalactites’ slowly meet their demise down to the seafloor, fascinating but deadly to
small sea creatures.
Fire Whirls
Behold these rare whirling flames that form when the right combination of intense
heat and turbulent wind conditions come together in fires or volcanic eruptions.
These vertical rotating columns of fire, sometimes hundreds of feet high in the air,
became both terrifying and mesmerizing displays of nature.
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Surprises Abound
It is spectacular phenomena such as these that demonstrate that our Earth is a
continued source of surprises to engage and amaze us–often defying our
expectations of what is possible on this planet.
While some require being in just the right place at just the right time or under
precisely the right conditions, their rarity is part of the reward for their occurrence
right before your eyes, creating moments that are simply unforgettable and creating
a deeper sense of appreciation within your heart for Earth’s unending capacity to
create magic.
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