Natural Phenomena That Almost No One Has Seen Up Close

Bright Side

Earth has some seriously wild natural phenomena that most people never get to see up close. Take the Catatumbo River in Venezuela, where lightning storms rage almost every night, flashing across the sky up to 260 times an hour—it's like nature’s own disco. Then there are the singing dunes of Morocco, which hum deep, eerie sounds when the wind shifts the sand just right, kind of like a giant, natural instrument. But the weirdest of them all? Ball lightning—those glowing, floating orbs that sometimes appear during storms, hovering mysteriously before vanishing in a flash. Scientists still don’t fully understand how ball lightning works, making it one of the strangest and most unpredictable light shows on the planet.  Max-Planck-Institute for Plasmaphysics / YouTube CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/: Light Pillar: by Dzmitry Suponau, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Light_Pillar_Raubichi_Belarus.jpg Highexposure: by Timmyjoeelzinga, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Highexposure01.jpg Light Pillars and Diamond Dust: by Ray Majoran, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Light_Pillars_and_Diamond_Dust_in_London_Ontario_Canada.jpg Light Pillars: by Raitisfreimanis, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Light_Pillars_Stockholm,_Sweden_20160106.JPG louds of smoke: by Michael D. Turnbull, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Clouds_of_smoke_from_burning_sulfur-rich_lignite_deposits.jpg Light Pillars and Diamond Dust: by Ray Majoran, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Light_Pillars_and_Diamond_Dust_in_London_Ontario_Canada.jpg Eternal Flame Falls: by Vsevolod.oparin, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eternal_Flame_Falls_3.jpg CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/: Catatumbo Lightning: by Fernando Flores, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Catatumbo_Lightning_(141677107).jpeg Eternal flame falls: by Mpmajewski, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Eternal_flame_falls_7252.jpg Smoking Hills: by Ansgar Walk, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Smoking_Hills_AXW_0316.jpg Smoking Hills: by Ansgar Walk, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Smoking_Hills_AXW_0339.jpg Smoking Hills: by Ansgar Walk, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Smoking_Hills_AXW_0302.jpg CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/: 發光的藍眼淚: by ynes95, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%E7%99%BC%E5%85%89%E7%9A%84%E8%97%8D%E7%9C%BC%E6%B7%9A_(cropped).jpg Sea sparkles: by Sander van der Wel, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sea_sparkles_(11538049406).jpg Green Glow Caves: by Donnie Ray Jones, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Green_Glow_Caves_in_New_Zealand_(6563152219).jpg, https://flic.kr/p/aZXSuT Animation is created by Bright Side. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Music from TheSoul Sound: https://thesoul-sound.com/   Check our Bright Side podcast on Spotify and leave a positive review! https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD34jRLrMrJux4VxV   Subscribe to Bright Side: https://goo.gl/rQTJZz ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our Social Media: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brightside Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightside.official TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@brightside.official?lang=en Telegram: https://t.me/bright_side_official   Stock materials (photos, footages and other): https://www.depositphotos.com https://www.shutterstock.com https://www.eastnews.ru ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This video is made for entertainment purposes. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, safety and reliability. Any action you take upon the information in this video is strictly at your own risk, and we will not be liable for any damages or losses. It is the viewer's responsibility to use judgement, care and precaution if you plan to replicate.

Transcript

00:00If you were visiting Earth from another planet, your rational mind just wouldn't understand

00:05how singing dunes and moving balls of lightning were scientifically possible.

00:11I bet you'll feel like these images are just stills from your favorite sci-fi movie.

00:16You better hope you never find yourself alone near Catatumbo River in Venezuela during one

00:21of its lightning storms.

00:23Because if you were, you'd be surprised to find out that lightning works both ways, meaning

00:28it can come from the sky and from the ground.

00:31Terrifying, I know.

00:33Scientists think that in this case, it probably happens because of a high presence of uranium

00:38in the bedrock.

00:39But it can also happen due to cold and warm air currents that meet around that area.

00:45This makes the electric field get all charged up and the bolt flips, traveling from ground

00:50to cloud.

00:52Scientists even have a fancy name for it – upward lightning.

00:56This special place, called Catatumbo River, became famous because of its light shows.

01:01Actually, the name means, house of thunder in the local language.

01:06This phenomenon happens for up to 160 nights a year, and it can last around 9 hours a day.

01:13When scientists counted, they realized that the area could produce anything from 16 to

01:1940 flashes of lightning per minute.

01:22Now you've probably heard of Marco Polo, the 13th-century Venetian merchant and world

01:27traveler.

01:28Well, in one of his voyages, he came across what he could only describe as singing dunes.

01:35The dunes literally started rumbling, like they were playing drums, and freaked him out

01:39so much, he thought it was the works of evil, invisible entities messing with him.

01:45Fast forward to our times, and scientists have discovered how sand dunes produce these

01:50rumbles.

01:52A team of scientists studied a singing dune in Morocco.

01:55They chose a large, crescent-shaped one that makes noise all year round.

02:00If the wind is right, this dune can sing a few times every afternoon.

02:06It turns out that the wind forces sand to accumulate at the top of the dune until the

02:11angle of the slope reaches a tipping point of about 35 degrees.

02:16This accumulated sand drops down like an avalanche, and that's what produces a sound.

02:21The sand needs to be dry enough for the singing to happen, though.

02:25They're like nature's boombox.

02:27Isn't that something?

02:29This next one might be the most disturbing of them all.

02:32First, you'll see a flash of lightning, then a thundering boom, and finally, a curious

02:39light floating through the air and bouncing off surfaces like a white electric ball.

02:45Would you also hide under your blanket if you witnessed something like this?

02:49That's what an old lady did when she witnessed this from bed in her Chicago apartment.

02:54It turns out, people have been swapping their own ball lightning stories for hundreds of

02:58years.

02:59An English monk's report from the early 1000s might be the oldest version of these accounts.

03:05It talks about a fiery globe descending from a storm cloud and falling into the river Thames.

03:11The thing is, scientists aren't entirely sure what causes it, but one theory involves

03:16lightning striking silica-rich soil.

03:19This can vaporize silica, creating tiny particles bound by electrical charges.

03:25When these particles react with oxygen, they produce glowing orbs, which can last a few

03:30seconds.

03:32Some other theories say that it can be linked to miniature black holes, or even hallucinations.

03:38But the silica explanation is the best contender so far.

03:42What they know for sure is that ball lightning is often linked to stormy weather.

03:48If you'd wake up in the middle of a wintry night and saw these lights, you'd probably

03:53think otherworldly people were invading our world.

03:56Or you'd feel like one of the lucky people who got to see the northern lights during

04:00your lifetime.

04:01But none are correct.

04:04These beautiful shafts of pastel-colored light were photographed by a guy in Ontario, Canada.

04:10They happen when tiny, flat ice crystals that usually reside up in the atmosphere float

04:16closer to the ground.

04:18They're sometimes called columns of violet light, and they reflect light from sources

04:23like streetlights or cars.

04:25These reflections stretch into tall, colorful columns that look like they're glowing in

04:31the sky.

04:32The best part is that it's mostly an optical illusion.

04:36The pillars aren't really in the air, they're just a trick of light bouncing off the ice.

04:42Somewhere near Buffalo, New York, you'll find a surreal combination of the fire and

04:47water elements.

04:49This phenomenon is called the eternal flame falls, precisely because it never stops burning.

04:56Even if it's so near the water.

04:59This is due to a chemical reaction where gas leaks out of the ground and combusts with

05:03the air.

05:05It's one out of a few hundred natural eternal flames around the world.

05:10But the 30 feet tall waterfall is probably the most beautiful one.

05:15Now, how does it get lit the first time around?

05:19Usually eternal flames can be ignited by lightning, human activity, or something called piezoelectricity,

05:26which is basically when certain materials make electricity when you squeeze, press,

05:31or twist them.

05:33Scientists believe that Native Americans lit these flames thousands of years ago, but that's

05:38just a hunch.

05:40Have you ever imagined going for a midnight swim and suddenly finding yourself surrounded

05:45by a glowing blue haze?

05:48As if there were huge cannons of light coming out of the seabed directly into the surface.

05:53This phenomenon is rare, but it sure is magical.

05:58This chemical reaction is known as bioluminescence, and it can happen in different situations.

06:04One example is when tiny algae organisms migrate near the seashores.

06:09When these algae are disturbed, they try to defend themselves by glowing and just happen

06:13to create the most beautiful spectacle.

06:17There's also a specific place in the world where you can see a similar phenomenon.

06:21It's in New Zealand.

06:22Hidden deep within the country's caves lie the so-called glowworms.

06:27They are the larval species of a fungus that happen to be luminescent.

06:31If you're lucky enough to tour around these caves, you'll feel like you're floating inside

06:36an underground galaxy.

06:39The sky can create lots of different cool phenomena, and this specific one is called

06:45a crown flash.

06:47If you were seeing it with your own eyes, you'd see a column of light jumping or dancing

06:51near the top of a cumulus nimbus cloud.

06:55Think of cumulus nimbus as massive, towering clouds that look like fluffy mountains.

07:01These are the clouds that usually announce thunderstorms, lightning, and heavy rain.

07:06Now, although you'd probably think crown flashes looked like some supernatural energetic door

07:12opening to the heavens, this is a very scientific phenomenon.

07:17It happens when sunlight reflects off tiny ice crystals inside the cloud.

07:22But here's the cool part.

07:23Those ice crystals aren't just floating around randomly.

07:27They're moving because of shifts in the cloud's electric field.

07:31As the field changes, the ice crystals realign, and the light they reflect moves too.

07:37That's why the crown flash looks like it's flickering or waving.

07:41Crown flashes don't happen all the time.

07:43You need a thundercloud with the right conditions, lots of sunlight, ice crystals, and a strong

07:48electric field.

07:50If you ever spot one, consider yourself lucky.

07:53It's like nature showing off a rare light trick!

07:57We usually see ever-burning hills in sci-fi movies, but this one is real.

08:02Located in the Arctic region of Canada, the so-called Smoking Hills is an unmatched sight

08:08on our planet.

08:09But here, things get even a little science fiction-y, since some minerals that exist

08:14in these hills were only ever found in a few places on our planet and outside it, like

08:20on the surface of Mars.

08:22The ground of Smoking Hills has been releasing smoke for at least a couple hundred years,

08:28non-stop.

08:29Explorers thought the area was home to an active volcano, but that was not the case.

08:34As science explains, the soil in the area is formed by sulfur and coal, and when they're

08:40in contact with oxygen, they spontaneously ignite, releasing constant smoke.

08:46I just warn you, don't be getting any touristic ideas.

08:49The environment is extremely hostile to human life, as the smoke is toxic, and its temperatures

08:55are dangerously high.

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