Sun halos are a common sight, and can be viewed from your own backyard. You don’t need to visit a volcano or climb a mountain to witness breathtaking natural phenomena. It’s also been viewed at Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland, Sakurajima in Japan, Mount Augustine in Alaska, Taal in the Phillipines, and many other volcanoes around the globe.
Helen erupted continuously over several months.
Some of the best observations of volcanic lightning by scientists occurred in 1980 when Washington State’s Mount St. Vusuvius’ famous eruption 2,000 years ago is the first recorded instance of volcanic lightning, and was seen when the volcano erupted again in 1944. Like typical lightning, where waves of warm and cold air produce electric charges, so do the collision of ice crystals in these ash plumes. The higher, stratospheric lightning is generated similarly to regular lightning as ash and water vapor rise in plumes out of the volcano, ice begins to form. Ground-level lightning occurs when the billions of particles of ash and smoke rub together, creating enough friction to transform electrons in the atmosphere into static electricity. Lightning is formed in two different places within the volcano: in the clouds of ash close to the ground, and in the high plumes of smoke. When lava – molten rock developed in the Earth’s mantle or crust – erupts on the surface, ash and soot often join, creating the fodder for volcanic lightning displays.
These bolts of electricity occur during the early stages of explosive volcanic eruptions where ash, gases, rock, and lava are expelled very quickly. Mike Lyvers / Getty Imagesįlowing lava and billowing ash are expected traits of volcanoes, but what about lightning? The result is as if a longer exposure had been done, resulting in a spectacular eruption photo emphasizing the glowing lava and volcanic lightning. Volcanic LightningĪ longer exposure of this eruption was created by combining 3 sequential short exposures taken one after the other. All reference points are also obscured by the mist, which makes it hard to judge the proportions and size of the shadow.Īirline passengers might also see the Brocken spectre from their windows: the shadow of the plane projected onto the clouds and encircled by a rainbow halo. The spectre is so breathtaking in part due to the seemingly massive size of the human shadow: an illusion borne of the distance it lies from the person, and the way it falls on water droplets of various depths. The low sun projects their human shadow onto the fog, encircled by a rainbow ring created from the refraction of light within the water droplets. Named after Brocken, the highest peak of the Harz Mountains in Northern Germany where it was first documented, the Brocken spectre appears when the sun is low behind someone – often mountain climbers – who have climbed high enough to look down upon the clouds or mist. Lewis, and Charles Dickens have all written about this mountain phenomenon. The Brocken spectre – also called the Brocken bow, mountain spectre, or a mountain glory – luckily presents no real danger to unsuspecting hikers, but has inspired awe in outdoor enthusiasts and artists alike Carl Jung, C.S. In German folklore, a man walked in the misty mountains, the sun behind him and clouds of fog below, looking down on the haze, he saw a giant, shadowy figure, ringed by a rainbow halo that inspired such terror that he jumped off the mountain to his death. Maya Karkalicheva / Moment / Getty Images Brocken SpectreĪ Brocken spectre in the Central Balkan National Park, Bulgaria.
Here are a few amazing environmental spectacles that you probably haven’t heard of. Our planet exhibits such awe-inspiring natural phenomena wherever we look: at its highest peaks, deepest ice formations, or right in our own backyards. Maybe you’ve been lucky enough to see Aurora Borealis, or even bioluminescent waves rolling in from the ocean. We’re all familiar with rainbows, tornados, and shooting stars.
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