The wonders of the world: Eight bizarre natural phenomena
Nature can behave in peculiar ways - and the following list only proves this. From destructive supercell storms that are terrifying to behold to the incredible sight of the Northern Lights, here are a few examples of nature's most peculiar phenomena.
This awe-inspiring picture is of volcanic lightning while the Shinmoedake volcano in Japan erupts. The reasons behind the phenomenon are not well understood but scientists believe it occurs when charged fine ash particles emitted from the volcano clash with ice particles in the clouds - which in turn creates lighting. (Photo by Sipa Press/REX)
Bioluminescent shores: The stunning blue glow seen in the waves here in California is the result of an algae bloom (or red tide). The other-worldly aqua colour is a product of the marine microbes which have gathered there, called phytoplanton. The micro-organisms glow blue when affected by stress - such as the presence of a surfer or when waves crash onto the shore. (Photo by KeystoneUSA-ZUMA/REX)
The Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights as it is more popularly known, has inspired millions of people to travel to the far north to see the shimmering spectacle. The beautiful dance of light occurs when particles from the Earth's atmosphere collide with charged particles from the sun. A similar occurance occurs in the southern hemisphere, called Aurora Australis. (Orn Oskarsson/Solent News/REX)
This menacing cloud is a supercell storm. It is a thunderstorm with a mesocyclone - a rotating movement of air. A supercell storm forms where cold dry air meets warm moist air. It can produce tornadoes, hail the size of golfballs and heavy rain. The destructive phenomenon can last for several hours. (Photo by Marko Korosec/Solent News/REX)
'Sun dogs' - halos, often with bright spots, that forms in the sky around the sun - behave in a similar way to rainbows. This beautiful sight is caused when sunlight is bent after hitting ice crystals in a cloud. The ice crystal acts as a prism and separates the sunlight into different colours to form a sun dog. When rainbows form it is because raindrops, not ice crystals, act as a prism. (WestEnd61/REX)
Fire Rainbow: The technical term is 'Pileus cloud' and it appears when sunlight passes through ice crystals in a cirrus clouds. If the light and cloud particles are perfectly aligned the crystals behave like a prism and refract the light - in what looks like a rainbow. The sun needs to be very high in the sky for this phenomenon to occur. (KeystoneUSA-ZUMA/REX)
Red tide (or algae bloom) may look like the scene of a massacre - but it is when colonies of algae grow rapidly - causing the water to turn a deep red. Red tides can be harmful to marine life, birds and even people, either due to toxins produced by the algae, or a lack of oxygen in the water. (KeystoneUSA-ZUMA/REX)
They may look like normal clouds but Asperatus Clouds are so rare they were only proposed as a 'new' classification of cloud in 2009 after extensive study. Typically found in Iowa, they look storm-like, resembling the surface of the sea, but they tend to disappear without a storm forming. (FLPA/Andrew Bailey/REX)
