Blue Jets And Red Sprites
Strange lights appear high into the air, above thunderstorm clouds. It makes sense, with all the lightning and charges happening there it is only fair for phenomena to occur both under and over the storm. The red sprites are big, usually reaching 20 kilometers flashes of light, which happen when lightning strikes within the cloud. The blue jets are a bit more tricky. They don't seem to appear because a lightning struck, so their behavior is random. Both lights are very pretty if you manage to get yourself high into the air and above an active storm.
Ball Lightning
This dangerous phenomenon remains unexplained to this day. It is literally a ball of electricity, that wonders around not very high above the ground. It is associated with thunderstorms, but unlike regular lightning it lasts for awhile, is a lot slower and varies greatly in size, up to several meters in diameter. Ball lightning usually explodes when its duration ends. It is an extremely dangerous thing to witness because of its unique properties. Reports of people, who saw it moving around in their room until it eventually left out of the window, are not that uncommon.
Sun Dogs
It is those pesky ice crystals again. Sometimes when we watch the sun nearing the horizon we can see its two doubles, one to the left and one to the right. They are smaller and less bright than the real Sun, and follow it around like dogs, hence the name. Sea dogs are a type of halo, which appears in the sky when plate shaped crystals in cirrus clouds act as a prism for the light of the downing Sun. They are very frequently seen everywhere around the world. Moon dogs also exist, but are understandably more rare.
Naga Fireballs
The Mekong river in Thailand has its very own way to celebrate the end of Buddhist lent - shooting fireballs into the air like a machine gun. It is an unexplained mystery, which nonetheless brings thousands of people together to watch the lightshow. Naga Fireballs shoot upwards when the Moon is full, sometimes up to tens of thousands of fireballs. They are red and of varying size. Scientist think that a spontaneous ignition of river gases is to blame, but locals think it is the Naga serpent inside the river. Both versions have their upsides and downsides.
Tsunami
This killer wave has nothing to do with the winds. It is formed in two ways. Underwater earthquakes(or very strong earthquakes close to the shore) and volcanic eruptions cause movement in the tectonic plates and, simply put, splash water towards the shores, sometimes dozens of meters high. The other way is through landslides, in fact the highest wave ever recorded, in Alaska, was formed after a huge landslide hit a narrow bay. Tsunamis are different from normal ways. They can travel around the globe, moving in deep waters mostly unnoticed until they reach a shore, then slam into it at full force. They are a wall of water more than a regular wave, one of the worst natural disasters in the world.
Desert Rose
It is not unheard of to take a casual walk in the desert and find a rose, buried into the sand. But how did it get there? Well, it is not a plant to begin with, it is a crystal in the form of a plant. Gypsum and Baryte are the most likely candidates. The peculiar rose form only appears in hot, arid places with lots of sand(aka deserts). The crystal plates get flattened and form a circular array, hence the rose-like look. Apparently those crystals are good when it comes to improving your health and memory, add to that their beautiful look and you got yourself a great present.
The Prismatic Hot Spring
In the Yellowstone National Park resides one of the most beautiful hot springs in the world, which also happens to be the largest natural hot spring in the USA(112 meters in diameter and over 37 meters deep). It is dark blue and clear in the middle, however along its shores the colors drastically change. It is like you are looking at a rainbow, engulfing the water from all sides. The reason for this colorful panorama are the bacteria, living on the edge of the mineral rich water. A must see if you are visiting Yellowstone.
The Eye of Africa
Deep into the Sahara desert(Mauritania) lies one of the lesser known wonders of the world - the Richat Structure. It is circular and highly visible from space. On the ground it is a deeply eroded dome, about 40 kilometers in diameter. Many theories about its origin were presented and discarded. First, scientists thought it to be a crater of an asteroid impact. Then a structure, created by volcanic activity. Even the mythical Atlantis! Now it is widely accepted that The Eye of Africa is a geologic dome, which suffered from deep erosion, but further researches are needed to make certain how such a unique looking thing came to be.
Tianzi Mountains
The Tianzi mountains in China are unlike anything you can associate with the term "mountain" . They are tall and very narrow rocks, the highest of them at 1262 meters above the sea level. On top of these peculiar formations are small forests. The whole thing is very picturesque, you wouldn't believe your eyes. The best views are from a cable car, which goes for 3 kilometers on top of these small mountains. It is even better in the winter, when snow and thick clouds cover everything.
The Underwater Waterfall
Something amazing can be seen near the shore of Mauritius Island, an underwater waterfall! It is actually an illusion, an unknown hole does not suck the water in. The explanation behind it is as follows: the plateau with the island and everything formed very recently. There are huge drops from both sides where the ocean floor drops really deep. What we see as an underwater waterfall is in fact the sand, being sucked in by the currents and dropped off into the depths. It is an amazing and memorable sight as long as you watch it from a helicopter.
