- 2 hours ago
Dive into the astonishing mysteries of our planet as we explore bizarre natural phenomena and the intriguing geological activity beneath Yellowstone. Discover what makes these wonders both fascinating and potentially hazardous!
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00The surface of this river looks as if it's covered with fish scales.
00:04Is it a giant water dragon or some other ancient monster?
00:07Not really.
00:09The explanation is much more boring, but surprising at the same time.
00:13Now let's start from the very beginning.
00:15This is the Shantang River in China, and this is Hangzhou Bay, its estuary,
00:20which is the tidal mouth of a river, where the tide meets the stream itself.
00:24Now this area is home to the world's largest tidal bores.
00:27A tidal bore is a strong tide that pushes up the river against the current.
00:32In the Shantang River, such tidal bores can reach a whopping 29 feet.
00:37The area regularly sees trains of large waves moving upstream.
00:41But in 2021, during a scientific expedition,
00:45experts discovered a marvelous natural phenomenon unique to this area.
00:50Sometimes, the tide comes in swirling waves.
00:53That's the famous fish scale tide.
00:56Thing is, this region has rotating currents,
00:59which means that the tide doesn't just move inland and then simply reverses its direction.
01:04Uh-uh.
01:05Instead, a rotating current easily changes direction without changing its speed.
01:10This makes the Shantang River perfect for winding up with groups of waves
01:14crashing into one another at oblique angles, which is like a cross-sea.
01:18Let's speak about this phenomenon now.
01:20Now, these four-sided wave patterns in the ocean look mesmerizing,
01:25as if the ocean deities decided to play a round of giant chess.
01:29But what you observe is the phenomenon known as square waves.
01:34They're often called cross-sea and grid waves, too.
01:37The thing is, most waves reach the shore and break parallel to the coastline.
01:41But in some regions of the world, these waves create a chessboard-like pattern on the surface of the water.
01:48When you look at these waves from above,
01:50you might think there's an underwater grid forming square-shaped ripples.
01:54But square waves aren't caused by anything taking place beneath the surface of the water.
01:59They're the result of the way the water moves.
02:01However beautiful and unusual this natural phenomenon is,
02:05it's also extremely dangerous.
02:07If you spot square waves while swimming, get out of the water immediately.
02:12Square waves usually come hand-in-hand with rip currents,
02:15incredibly strong currents flowing seaward from the shore.
02:19Plus, square waves can reach 10 feet in height,
02:21and that's not something even an experienced swimmer can deal with.
02:26So, we're done with the seas for the moment
02:28and are moving to the largest active volcano in Europe.
02:31It's Aetna, and it continues to amaze us with jaw-dropping smoke ring shows.
02:36But wait! People live there!
02:38Isn't it time to evacuate them?
02:40The volcano looks like it's about to go off.
02:43Well, let's calm down. There's no need to fuss.
02:46Experts assure us that the production of such rings
02:48doesn't mean that a big eruption is on the way.
02:51These white smoke rings are made of water vapor
02:54and are generated by bursts of gas bubbles
02:56inside a narrow duct over a magma chamber.
03:00Aetna was even nicknamed the Lady of the Ring.
03:03And currently, the volcano is breaking its own records.
03:06For example, in the year 2000,
03:09the volcano produced around 5,000 such smoke rings.
03:12According to researchers,
03:14no other volcano on Earth
03:15produces as many volcanic vortex rings as Aetna.
03:19Southeast Crater is especially active.
03:21It emits countless beautiful vapor rings.
03:25Now, don't look away from the sky.
03:27You might witness something
03:28like what the residents of New Jersey saw recently.
03:31A massive fireball lit up the sky
03:33in the Garden State and surrounding areas.
03:35A meteor falling to the ground
03:37looked like a bright streak of light.
03:39And the folks of several New Jersey towns,
03:42as well as some parts of New York,
03:44Pennsylvania, and Connecticut,
03:45reported this show to the American Meteor Society.
03:48Security camera footage posted online
03:50by some witnesses of this awesome phenomenon
03:53show the flash dashed across the sky
03:55within a couple of seconds at 3.43 a.m.
04:00Another unbelievable phenomenon captured recently
04:03is one of the rarest in the world
04:05and almost impossible to see with the unaided eye.
04:08A West Australian photographer
04:10was shooting a wet-season thunderstorm
04:12just outside of Derby
04:13when he managed to film on camera
04:15a few red sprites.
04:17He said later that they were gone
04:19in the blink of an eye.
04:20He described red sprites
04:22as huge feathery tendrils
04:24of purple and red
04:25and specks of bright red.
04:27Red sprites are massive electrical discharges
04:30that take different shapes
04:31and look like reddish-orange flashes.
04:34They last for just fractions of a second
04:36and occur after super-strong lightning strokes.
04:39Even though they're usually caused
04:41by the lightning discharges
04:42between a thundercloud and the ground,
04:44sprites soar up into the air,
04:46up to 60 miles.
04:47Interestingly, this phenomenon
04:49had been dismissed
04:50and considered to be fiction for decades
04:53until scientists finally caught it on film.
04:56Since that time,
04:57red sprites have been recorded regularly.
05:00Catatumbo lightning
05:01is the world's longest lightning storm.
05:04The heart of the storm,
05:05which repeats every year,
05:07is over the mouth of the Catatumbo River,
05:09where it empties into Lake Miracaibo
05:11in Venezuela.
05:12This storm towers higher than a regular one.
05:15Catatumbo lightning occurs
05:17for 140 to 160 nights a year,
05:21lasts for 9 hours a day,
05:22and produces 16 to 40 lightning flashes per minute.
05:26Maybe you've heard of
05:27how they say lightning
05:28doesn't strike the same place twice.
05:30Well, Catatumbo doesn't seem
05:32to know about this rule.
05:33Or at least,
05:34it doesn't prevent stormclaws
05:36from gathering in the very same place
05:38year after year.
05:41A fellow hill-walking in the UK
05:43has captured amazing shots
05:45of a weather phenomenon
05:46that was called an angel in the sky.
05:49So look at it.
05:50This scene was captured
05:51with a Canon 5D Mark IV camera.
05:54The silhouette, though,
05:55isn't some non-material thing.
05:57It's just the shadow of the photographer
06:00at the center of a circular rainbow.
06:02Mesmerized,
06:03the photographer took a few more photos
06:05and continued walking.
06:07Such an effect is produced
06:09when an observer stands
06:10above the upper surface of a cloud.
06:12It can also be a mountain
06:14or some other high ground,
06:15and the sun should be shining
06:17from behind their back.
06:18When the observer sees their shadow,
06:21the light is reflected in such a way
06:22that a bizarre circular glory
06:24appears around the point
06:26directly opposite the sun.
06:28Another cool sky phenomenon
06:30was witnessed in Auckland.
06:32Look at this.
06:33What does it remind you of?
06:34I bet you think it looks like a spaceship
06:36from a different civilization.
06:38But it's just a rare
06:39meteorological phenomenon.
06:42Everyone who saw
06:42the circular cloud formation
06:44said it looked like a hole
06:46in the cloud cover.
06:47And some also added
06:48that a small rainbow
06:49was visible inside.
06:51This phenomenon is known
06:53as a fall streak hole
06:54and a punch hole cloud.
06:56Such a formation is quite rare.
06:58Even experts have seen it
07:00just a few times
07:01throughout their careers.
07:02What happens here
07:04is some sort of atmospheric disturbance
07:06within super-cooled water,
07:08the disturbance being an airplane
07:09or something similar.
07:11As a result,
07:12the super-cooled water
07:13rapidly turns into ice crystals.
07:15Since the crystals are heavier
07:17than the surrounding cloud,
07:18they fall out,
07:19leaving a hole behind.
07:20The process happens
07:22high up in the atmosphere
07:23and is quick.
07:24It takes only minutes or so.
07:26Well, let's get back to the ground
07:27and examine the phenomenon
07:29people in the U.S. can witness.
07:30It's an extremely rare one.
07:33Nothing similar
07:33has happened like this
07:34since 1803.
07:36What is it?
07:37Billions of cicadas
07:39from two different broods
07:40are merging together
07:41from the underground
07:42after more than 200 years.
07:45All these loud singing insects
07:47belong to two distinct families
07:48of periodical cicadas.
07:50One group emerges to the surface
07:52every 13 years
07:54and the other
07:54every 17 years.
07:56It's a rare occurrence
07:57when the cycles
07:58of both groups align.
08:00This year,
08:01this once-in-a-lifetime event
08:02is taking place
08:03since two groups
08:04with different cycles
08:05are emerging
08:06at the same time.
08:08These broods
08:09are known as
08:09Brood 13
08:10and Brood 19.
08:12They have been seen
08:13and heard
08:14across the southern U.S.
08:16and as far north
08:17as Illinois.
08:22So, you might have heard
08:24that Yellowstone National Park
08:26is sitting on top
08:27of a giant supervolcano.
08:29That's a reason why
08:30the area can boast
08:31powerful geysers
08:32and hot springs.
08:34But it also means
08:36that underneath Yellowstone,
08:37there is an enormous
08:39magma chamber.
08:40In 2015,
08:42researchers from
08:43the University of Utah
08:44found out that
08:45this chamber
08:46was much bigger
08:47than everyone
08:47had previously thought.
08:49They even found
08:50one more reservoir
08:51with magma
08:52under the top one.
08:54Apparently,
08:54the more spacious
08:55the chambers are,
08:56the more magma
08:57they contain.
08:58Together,
08:59the two reservoirs
09:00store a glob of magma
09:02that could easily
09:02fill the Grand Canyon
09:04not once,
09:05but 11 times.
09:07But, you know
09:08the most worrying thing
09:09about the magma chambers?
09:10They tend to push
09:11against the ground
09:12above them.
09:13As a result,
09:15the land in Yellowstone
09:16rises about
09:17one to two inches
09:18a year.
09:19On top of that,
09:20Yellowstone has the status
09:22of an active volcano,
09:23and its volcanic
09:24explosivity index
09:26is 8 out of 8.
09:29Such a high number
09:30means that
09:31if this volcano erupted,
09:33it would be
09:33an apocalyptic event.
09:35To put it into perspective,
09:37the eruption of Pinatubo
09:38in the Philippines
09:39in 1991,
09:41which is considered
09:42the most powerful
09:42in living memory,
09:44was given a mere 6
09:45on the volcanic
09:46explosivity index.
09:48Ha!
09:48Loser!
09:50Now, let's figure out
09:51if there's anything
09:52to worry about.
09:54In March 2023,
09:56the University of Utah
09:57seismograph stations
09:58recorded 354 earthquakes
10:01in the entire region
10:02of Yellowstone National Park.
10:04Sounds like a lot!
10:06But keep in mind
10:07that the most impressive
10:08event of the month
10:09was a mini-earthquake
10:11of magnitude 3.7.
10:15It was part of a swarm
10:16of 106 earthquakes
10:18that began on March 29
10:20and continued
10:21until the end of the month.
10:22Yep, earthquakes
10:23apparently also come
10:25in swarms.
10:26So, be aware.
10:28Experts say that
10:29Yellowstone seismic activity
10:31is, well,
10:32kind of more active
10:33than usual.
10:33But it's really
10:34nothing serious.
10:37A geophysicist
10:38working at
10:39Yellowstone Volcano Observatory
10:41called Michael Pollan
10:42claims that the volcano
10:44won't erupt
10:44anytime soon.
10:45For this to happen,
10:47there must be enough magma
10:48ready to erupt
10:49beneath the surface.
10:51Whew!
10:51There should also
10:52be enough pressure
10:53to cause this magma
10:54to rise.
10:56But neither of these
10:57conditions exist today.
10:59According to the expert,
11:01Yellowstone is stable now.
11:03At the same time,
11:05Pollan and his team
11:06are keeping track
11:06of all kinds
11:07of underground activity,
11:09looking for warning signs
11:10of possible eruptions.
11:12Some of them
11:13can be the frequency
11:14of earthquakes
11:15and ground deformation.
11:17Thousands of
11:18mini-earthquakes,
11:18coupled with extreme
11:19changes in the surface
11:21of the ground
11:21in that area,
11:22can be alarming.
11:24The team also monitors
11:26the temperature
11:26of the park's
11:27thermal features.
11:28That's another
11:29noteworthy sign
11:30of a potential disaster,
11:32park-wide changes
11:33in geyser activity,
11:34as well as gas
11:35and thermal emissions.
11:37So, despite the media
11:39claims that Yellowstone
11:40is due to erupt soon
11:42because the last eruption
11:43happened 70,000 years ago,
11:45that's not how volcanoes work.
11:48Experts say that it's
11:49one of the most popular
11:50misconceptions about volcanoes.
11:52They don't follow timelines.
11:55If a super-eruption
11:57did happen, though,
11:58the most worrying thing
11:59for us would not be
12:01the lava flows,
12:02and not an earthquake
12:03that would most likely
12:04accompany the natural disaster.
12:06No, the worst consequence
12:08of such a super-eruption
12:10would be ash and ashfall.
12:12Let's have a look
12:13at what it was like
12:14when the Yellowstone volcano
12:15erupted many years ago.
12:18There have been
12:19at least three super-eruptions
12:20in the history of the volcano.
12:23The most powerful of them
12:24was 2,500 times
12:26more devastating
12:27than the terrifying eruption
12:29of Mount St. Helens
12:30in Washington State in 1980.
12:33As for the most
12:34recent super-eruption,
12:36it was dubbed
12:37the Lava Creek eruption.
12:39It formed the Yellowstone caldera
12:41after spewing out
12:43an insane amount of dust,
12:44volcanic ash,
12:45and rock into the air.
12:48Recently, scientists
12:49have also learned
12:50about two other
12:51previously unknown
12:52super-eruptions
12:53that happened around
12:559 and 8.7 million years ago.
12:58The younger of the two
12:59is now considered
13:00to be the largest
13:01recorded event
13:01of the whole
13:02Snake River Yellowstone
13:04volcanic province.
13:06Anyway,
13:07let's have a look
13:08at what was going on
13:09all those millions
13:10of years ago.
13:11Because I wasn't around then,
13:13so we're all assuming
13:14this stuff
13:15based on evidence.
13:17The first signs
13:18of the disaster
13:19appeared long before
13:20the catastrophe broke out.
13:22For thousands of years,
13:23the heat had been
13:24welling up
13:25from within
13:26the planet's insides.
13:27It had been melting rock
13:29beneath the planet's crust
13:30and leaving behind
13:31huge chambers.
13:32They were filled
13:33with a pressurized mixture
13:34of semi-solid rock,
13:36magma,
13:37water vapor,
13:38and different gases,
13:39including carbon dioxide.
13:41All this scorching
13:42underground soup
13:43was expanding
13:44since more and more
13:46magma arrived with time.
13:47The land over
13:48the volcanic system
13:49was rising upward
13:50almost unnoticeably.
13:53A year before
13:54the super-eruption,
13:55Yellowstone gave a warning.
13:57A burp, maybe?
13:58But that long ago,
14:00there was no one
14:01who could interpret
14:02these signals.
14:03Plus, those alarming
14:04processes were mostly
14:06going on underground.
14:07For example,
14:09decompression releases
14:10gas bubbles.
14:11While bursting,
14:12such bubbles can often
14:13power particular
14:14kinds of eruptions.
14:16Months before the eruption,
14:18small-scale earthquakes
14:20became more frequent
14:21and more intense.
14:22The ground in many spots
14:24all over the super-volcano
14:25got hotter than it used to be.
14:28Surface lakes
14:29and groundwater
14:30also became warmer.
14:32If people had been
14:33around at that time,
14:34they would have noticed
14:35unusual steam
14:36fogging in that area.
14:38Not long before
14:39the eruption started,
14:40the growing pressure
14:41pushed the ground
14:42over the magma chamber up.
14:44This created
14:45a dome-shaped uplift.
14:47Narrow cracks
14:48started to open
14:49along the edges
14:50of this dome.
14:51Imagine opening
14:52a bottle of soda
14:53after you've shaken it.
14:54Something like that
14:56was happening
14:56near the volcano.
14:58Think Mentos
14:59and Diet Coke.
15:00The pressure
15:01was released
15:02through the fractures
15:02when gases were bursting
15:04out from under the surface.
15:06So right before
15:07the disaster,
15:08the ground around
15:09the Yellowstone volcano
15:10lifted.
15:11Geothermal pools
15:13and geysers
15:13heated up to
15:14boiling temperatures
15:15and got more acidic
15:17than usual.
15:18The magma started
15:19to rise toward the surface.
15:20At one point,
15:22the rock roof
15:23of the magma chamber
15:24couldn't resist anymore
15:25and the eruption
15:26kicked off.
15:28Small but constant tremors
15:30began to move the ground
15:31days before the catastrophe.
15:33But the real shaking
15:35didn't start
15:35until several minutes
15:37before the eruption.
15:38With a deafening roar,
15:40a massive column
15:41of lava and ash
15:42curled up into the air.
15:44Within several minutes,
15:45a pyroclastic flow
15:47rushed across the area
15:48at a hurricane-force speed.
15:51Such a flow
15:52is a liquid mixture
15:53of half-solid lava pieces,
15:55volcanic ash,
15:56and hot,
15:57expanding gases.
15:58It looked like
15:59an extremely hot,
16:00toxic snow avalanche.
16:02With a temperature
16:02of about 1,300 degrees,
16:04it was burning
16:05everything in its back.
16:08The volcano
16:09kept pumping ash
16:10for days on end.
16:11For all living creatures,
16:13ash fallout
16:13was one of the most
16:14dangerous consequences
16:15of the eruption.
16:17Volcanic ash
16:18turns into glassy cement
16:20within seconds
16:21of being inhaled.
16:22Most animals
16:23didn't have a chance
16:24to survive.
16:25Even thick trees
16:26started to collapse
16:27under the weight
16:28of this dense substance.
16:30It only took
16:31a couple of days
16:32until a thick layer
16:33of ash
16:34covered huge territories.
16:36After the ash
16:38got into the stratosphere,
16:39the temperatures
16:40all over the world
16:41started to drop.
16:42The eruption
16:43was rich in sulfur,
16:44which is an effective
16:46sunblocker.
16:47That's why it soon
16:48got so cold
16:49that there was no summer
16:51in the whole world
16:51for the next several years.
16:53Animals couldn't find
16:54food and clean water.
16:57This natural disaster,
16:59called the
16:59Greys Landing
17:00supereruption,
17:01was colossal.
17:02That's how researchers
17:03described it
17:04in their recent studies.
17:06It affected
17:07a huge territory.
17:08The streams of lava
17:09enameled an area
17:11as large as New Jersey
17:12in scorching hot
17:13volcanic glass.
17:15It instantly
17:16sterilized the land surface,
17:18wiping out
17:19all the plant life
17:20that had been
17:20thriving there before.
17:22Now, if such an eruption
17:24were to happen
17:25these days,
17:25it would cover
17:26Colorado, Utah,
17:28and Wyoming
17:28with almost three feet
17:30of toxic volcanic ash.
17:32Many regions
17:33would be plunged
17:34into darkness.
17:35Even the coast,
17:36where most Americans live,
17:38would experience problems
17:39with the spread
17:40of the ash cloud.
17:41It would destroy crops
17:43and contaminate pastures,
17:45ruin power lines,
17:46and electrical transformers.
17:48Well,
17:49so I'm sure you'll agree
17:50with me,
17:50it's a good thing
17:52that such a disaster
17:53isn't expected to occur
17:54any time soon.
17:56Hey,
17:56we got enough other stuff
17:58on our plate.
Comments