Names of natural phenomena. Natural phenomena and their classification What natural phenomena argue among themselves
As children, we all wonder at the blue sky, white clouds and bright stars. With age, many pass this, and we cease to notice nature. Browse this list of unusual natural phenomena, for sure it will make you once again wonder at the complex organization of our world, and natural phenomena in particular.
20. Moonlight rainbow.
Lunar rainbow (also known as the night rainbow) is the rainbow generated by the moon. The lunar rainbow is comparatively paler than the ordinary. The lunar rainbow is best seen with the full moon, or at the moon phase close to full, because at that time the moon is the brightest. For the appearance of the moon rainbow, in addition to those caused by the waterfall, the moon should be low in the sky (less than 42 degrees and preferably lower) and the sky should be dark. And of course it should rain in front of the moon. A moon rainbow is a much rarer occurrence than a rainbow seen in daylight. The moon rainbow phenomenon is observed in only a few places in the world. Waterfalls in Cumberland (Cumberland Falls), near Williamsburg (Williamsburg), Kentucky (Kentucky), USA; Waimea, Hawaii; Zailiysky Alatau in the foothills of Almaty; Victoria Falls on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe are widely known as places for frequent observations of moon rainbows. Yosemite National Park has a large number of waterfalls in the United States. As a result, lunar rainbows are also observed in the park, especially with spring rising water levels from melting snow. A lunar rainbow is also observed on the Yamal Peninsula in heavy fog. Probably, with sufficiently strong fog and fairly clear weather, the moon rainbow can be observed at any latitude.
19. Mirages
Despite its prevalence, mirages always cause an almost mystical feeling of surprise. Optical phenomenon in the atmosphere: reflection of light by the boundary between sharply different density layers of air. For the observer, such a reflection consists in the fact that together with a distant object (or part of the sky) you can see its imaginary image, shifted relative to the object. Mirages are divided into lower ones, visible under the object, upper ones, above the object, and side ones.
18. Halo
Typically, halo occur in high humidity or severe frost - before the halo was considered a phenomenon from above, and people expected something unusual. This is an optical phenomenon, a luminous ring around an object - a light source. A halo usually appears around the sun or moon, sometimes around other powerful light sources. There are many types of halo, but they are mainly caused by ice crystals in cirrus clouds at an altitude of 5-10 km in the upper layers of the troposphere. Sometimes in frosty weather, a halo is formed by crystals very close to the earth's surface. In this case, the crystals resemble shining gems.
17. Belt of Venus
An interesting optical phenomenon that occurs when the atmosphere is dusty is an unusual “belt” between the sky and the horizon. It looks like a strip of pink to orange between the dark night sky below and the blue sky above, appearing before sunrise or after sunset in parallel at a height of 10 ° -20 ° to the horizon in a place opposite the Sun. In the belt of Venus, the atmosphere scatters the light of the setting (or rising) Sun, which looks more red, so it turns pink, not blue.
16. Pearl clouds
Extremely high clouds (about 10-12 km) that become visible when the sun sets.
15. Northern Lights
Aurora Borealis, also known as Aurora Borealis, is truly a spectacular sight. This natural phenomenon can most often be observed in late autumn, winter or early spring.
14. The Color Moon
If the atmosphere is dusty, high humidity, or for other reasons, the moon sometimes looks colored. The red moon is especially unusual.
13. Biconvex clouds
An extremely rare phenomenon that appears mainly in front of a hurricane. Opened only 30 years ago. Mammatus clouds are also called. clouds that are round and biconvex in the shape of a lens - they were sometimes confused with UFOs before.
12. The lights of St. Elmo.
A fairly common phenomenon caused by increased electric field strength before a thunderstorm, during a thunderstorm and immediately after. A discharge in the form of luminous beams or brushes (or a corona discharge) arising at the sharp ends of tall objects (towers, masts, lonely trees, sharp peaks of rocks, etc.) The sailors who observed the lights of St. Elm on the masts were the first witnesses to this phenomenon. and other vertical pointed objects.
11. Fiery whirlwinds
A fiery whirlwind is also known as a fiery devil or fiery tornado. This is a rare phenomenon in which fire under certain conditions, depending on temperature and air flows, acquires a vertical vorticity. Fiery vortices often appear when bushes burn. Vertically rotating columns can reach from 10 to 65 meters in height, but only the last few minutes of its existence. And with a certain wind, they can be even higher.
10. Mushroom clouds.
Mushroom clouds are mushroom-shaped clouds of smoke formed as a result of the combination of the smallest particles of water and earth, or as a result of a powerful explosion.
9. Light poles.
One of the most common types of halo, a visual phenomenon, is an optical effect, which is a vertical streak of light stretching from the sun during its sunset or sunrise.
8. Diamond dust.
Frozen water droplets scattering the light of the sun.
7. Fish, frog and other rains.
One of the hypotheses explaining the appearance of such rains is a tornado, which sucks nearby water bodies and transfers their contents over long distances.
6. Virga.
Rain that evaporates before reaching the ground. It is observed in the form of a noticeable deposition band emerging from the cloud. In North America, it is commonly seen in the southern United States and Canadian prairies.
5. Bora.
Hurricane winds with many names. Strong (up to 40-60 m / s) cold wind in some coastal areas where low mountain ranges border the warm sea (for example, on the Adriatic coast of Croatia, on the Black Sea coast in the region of Novorossiysk). Sent down the slopes, usually observed in winter.
4. A fiery rainbow.
Occurs with the passage of sunshine through high clouds. Unlike an ordinary rainbow, which can be observed almost anywhere in the world, a "fiery rainbow" is visible only at certain latitudes. In Russia, the visibility belt passes through the extreme south.
3. Green ray.
An extremely rare optical phenomenon, a flash of green light at the moment the solar disk disappears beyond the horizon (usually sea) or when it appears beyond the horizon.
2. Ball lightning.
A rare natural phenomenon, a unified physical theory of the occurrence and course of which has not yet been presented. There are about 200 theories explaining the phenomenon, but none of them has received absolute recognition in the academic environment. It is widely believed that ball lightning is a phenomenon of electrical origin, of a natural nature, that is, a special kind of lightning that exists for a long time in the form of a ball, able to move along an unpredictable, sometimes very surprising trajectory for eyewitnesses.
In South America, the largest water lily in the world - the giant Amazonian Victoria - lives in the Amazon. The diameter of its leaves reaches two ...
Natural hazards are classified:by origin; by the nature of the impact; by duration (duration); by regularity of action; by scale of distribution; by groups, types and types.
By nature, natural phenomena are divided on the:
- Geological and geomorphological.
- Climatic (related hydrological).
- Biogeochemical.
- Biological.
- Cosmic.
1. The geological and geomorphological hazardous natural phenomena include: earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, landslides, rockfalls, landslides, mudflows, snow flows, avalanches, caving and glacier movements, soil erosion, reformation of river channels, soil (snow) creep on slopes, subsidence during quicksand on karst.
2. Climatic and hydrological hazards - these are hurricanes, typhoons, tornadoes, squalls, floods, thunderstorms, hailstorms, sea storms, extreme air temperatures, showers, snowfalls, blizzards, ice, frost, icing, ice on slopes, permafrost deformations of the soil, thermokarst, thermoerosion, flooding, change groundwater level, abrasion of coasts of seas and reservoirs, ice phenomena on rivers, droughts, dry winds, dust storms, soil salinization, sharp changes in atmospheric pressure, temperature and humidity.
3. Biogeochemical hazards - This is the emission of hazardous gases from water bodies (lakes, swamps), etc.
4. Natural hazards of a biological nature- This is the mass reproduction of agricultural pests, plant and domestic animal diseases, epidemics among animals and people, attacks in the territory and water areas of introduced species, attacks of bloodsucking, predatory and poisonous animals, bio-interference to transport, control and distribution systems.
5. Dangers from space.
A threat to mankind is posed by cosmogenic hazards and the possibility of a collision of celestial bodies with the Earth.
To cosmogenic hazards include - solar activity and space weather. Changes in the solar atmosphere, including flares and ejections of charged particles from the solar corona and their interaction with the magnetosphere and the upper atmosphere of the Earth, create dangers and lead to emergencies on Earth.
So, for example, in 1989 there was the strongest magnetic storm in the last hundred years. She was 10-12 times more powerful than the average. In the province of Quebec (Canada) and the state of New Jersey (USA), a magnetic storm led to the disconnection of power supply systems and caused a loss of more than $ 1 billion.
Fall to earthheavenly bodies is quite real, it accompanies the entire history of the Earth. Fortunately for mankind, the fall of large cosmic bodies on Earth in the present historical period did not occur. Civilization was spared from planetary catastrophes.
However, the Earth is occasionally hit by cosmic bodies (asteroids and comets) with meeting speeds of 11.2 to 72 km / s and meteorites.
The possible consequences of the encounters of such space objects with the Earth can be judged by the studied circumstances of the fall to Earth 65 million years ago of a small planet - an asteroid with a diameter of 10 kilometers. In the atmosphere, it fell apart into several fragments that formed craters in our planet, including three in Russia.
As a result of a combination of damaging factors, the destruction of animals and plants on land and in the upper layers of the oceans occurred.
Scientists suggest that it is with this catastrophe that the mass death of giant dinosaurs, marine mollusks, some microorganisms, a strong change in terrestrial plants and algae is associated.
There are suggestions that such disasters have occurred more than once and occur with a frequency of 28-30 million years.
By the nature of the impact, hazardous natural processes are divided into:
Having a predominantly destructive effect (hurricanes, typhoons, tornadoes, earthquakes, insect invasions, etc.);
- having a predominantly paralyzing (stopping) effect for traffic (snowfall, rain with flooding, ice, fog);
- having a depleting effect (reduce yield, soil fertility, water supply and other natural resources);
- natural disasters that can cause technological accidents (natural and technological disasters) (lightning, ice, icing, biochemical corrosion).
Some phenomena can be multifaceted, for example: floods can be devastating for a city, paralyzing for flooding roads and draining for crops.
By the duration (duration) of the action distinguish:
Instantaneous (seconds, minutes) - impact, earthquakes;
- short-term (hours, days) - squalls, atmospheric phenomena, floods;
- long-term (months, years) - volcanoes, problems of ozone holes;
- secular (tens, hundreds of years) - climatic cycles, modern climate warming
Extreme natural phenomena include: meteorites, hurricanes, typhoons, tornadoes, squalls, earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, landslides, rockfalls, landslides, mudflows, snow streams, avalanches.
Adverse natural phenomena include severe frosts, droughts, soil erosion, etc.
Natural hazards can be classified according to the regularity of action in time, space and strength.
According to the regularity of action over time, dangerous natural phenomena can be divided into:
regularly (periodically) operating. For example, floods occur almost at the same time, and their strength can be predicted in advance. Therefore, the degree of adaptation of the population to them is quite high;
irregularly acting, i.e., arising at a random moment in time. The time of occurrence of such extreme natural phenomena (for example, earthquakes), as a rule, is not predicted in advance, and therefore they are extremely dangerous.
A number of natural hazards occur in certain seasons (for example, tropical cyclones in the summer), but occur within a season at a random point in time, which is not always possible to predict.
Classification of emergencies of a natural nature by groups, types and types
Emergency groups |
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1. Phenomena in the lithosphere |
1.1 Geophysical hazards |
Earthquakes |
1.2 Geologically hazardous |
Landslides, sat down; landslides; scree; avalanches. Slope flush. Drawdown of forest species. |
|
1.3 natural fires |
Forest fires. |
|
2. Phenomena in the atmosphere |
2.1 Meteorological and agrometeorological hazards |
Storm (9 - 11 points) |
3. Phenomena in the hydrosphere |
3.1 Marine hydrological hazards |
Tropical cyclones (typhoons). |
3.2 Hydrological hazards |
High water levels (floods). |
|
3.3 Hydrogeological hazards |
Low groundwater levels. High groundwater levels |
|
4. Biological phenomena |
4.1 Biological damage in the lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere |
Manifestations of micro- and macro-organisms caused by biodeterioration of technogenic objects |
4.2 Infectious diseases of people. |
|
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4.3 Infectious incidence of farm animals |
Isolated cases of exotic and especially dangerous infectious diseases. |
|
4.4 The defeat of agricultural plants by diseases and pests |
Progressive epiphytotia. |
Earthquakes are seismic phenomena that occur as a result of sudden displacements and ruptures in the earth's crust or in the upper part of the mantle, transmitted over long distances in the form of sharp vibrations, leading to the destruction of buildings, structures, fires and human casualties.
Volcanic activity arises as a result of constant active processes occurring in the depths of the Earth.
The totality of phenomena associated with the movement of magma in the earth's crust and on its surface is called volcanism.
Landslides are sliding displacements of rock masses down the slope due to imbalance caused by various reasons (washing away rocks with water, weakening their strength due to weathering or waterlogging by precipitation and groundwater, systematic tremors, and unreasonable human activities).
Mudflows are turbulent mud and mud-stone streams that suddenly occur in the channels of mountain rivers. Sel is a formidable force. The stream, consisting of a mixture of water, mud and stones, swiftly rushes down the river, pulling out trees with roots, breaking bridges, destroying dams, destroying crops. The danger of mudflows is not only in their destructive forces, but also in the suddenness of their appearance. After all, the downpour in the mountains often does not cover the foothills, and in the inhabited places the mud appears suddenly. Sel is a cross between a liquid and a solid mass. This phenomenon is short-term, usually lasts 1-3 hours.
Collapses are the separation and rapid decline of large masses of rocks, their overturning, crushing and rolling on steep and steep slopes.
Shedding differs from debris, first of all, by the size of the rocks and speed.
Snow avalanches are called snow masses that fall from the slopes of the mountains under the influence of gravity.
Sagging of loess rocks - compaction and deformation during moistening (soaking) of forests with the formation of subsidence deformations (dips, subsidence cracks, funnels).
Karst is a geological phenomenon associated with increased solubility of rocks in conditions of active groundwater circulation, expressed by the processes of chemical and mechanical transformation of rocks with the formation of underground cavities, surface funnels, dips, subsidence (karst deformations).
Abrasion (Latin - scraping) in geology is the process of destruction and demolition of land by the sea surf. The waves of the sea, striking the shore, continuously wash it and smooth out all the protrusions and irregularities - they absorb the land.
Soil erosion is the process of destruction of the upper, most fertile soil layers and underlying rocks with melt and rainwater or wind.
Kurums - outwardly, they are placers of coarse clastic material in the form of stone cloaks and streams on mountain slopes having a steepness less than the angle of repose of the coarse clastic material (from 3 to 35-40 degrees).
Dust storms are atmospheric disturbances in which a large amount of dust is carried up into the air, transported over long distances.
Forest fire - a fire spreading through a forest territory.
Peat fire is a fire of a peat bog, drained or natural, when its surface is overheated by the sun's rays or as a result of careless handling of fire by people ..
The storm is very strong, with a speed of 15 to 20 m / s, and a continuous wind, causing great damage.
A hurricane (in the tropics of the Pacific Ocean - a typhoon) is a wind of tremendous destructive power, having a speed of more than 32.7 m / s (12 points on the Beaufort scale).
Tornadoes (tornadoes) are atmospheric eddies that occur in a thundercloud and often spread over the surface of the earth (water). The tornado has the shape of a pillar, sometimes with a curved axis of rotation, with a diameter of tens to hundreds of meters, with a funnel-shaped extension above and below.
Flurry - short-term wind gain up to a speed of 20-30 m / s.
Hail is precipitation, usually in the warm season. It consists of pieces of ice measuring 5-55 mm, sometimes 130 mm and weighing about 1 kg.
Large hail - hail with a hail diameter of 20 mm or more
Heavy rain (rain) - rainfall of 50 mm or more for 12 hours or more, and in mountain, mudflow and rain-hazardous areas - 30 mm or more in 12 hours.
Heavy snowfall, rainfall of 20 mm or more in 12 hours or less.
Strong ice - the diameter of the deposits on the wires is 20 mm or more.
Severe frost - the maximum air temperature is 30 degrees C and below.
The intense heat is characterized by the excess of the average plus temperature of the surrounding air by 10 or more degrees for several days (or the maximum air temperature is 38 degrees C and above).
Fog is an accumulation of small water droplets or ice crystals in the surface layer of the atmosphere.
Drought is a prolonged and significant lack of precipitation, often at elevated temperatures and low humidity.
Frost - a decrease in temperature during the growing season on the soil surface below 0 degrees C.
Tropical cyclones are seasonal phenomena, the frequency of which in different areas varies on average from one to 20 hurricanes per year.
A tsunami is a series of giant ocean waves resulting from underwater or island earthquakes or volcanic eruptions.
Strong waves - waves with wave heights: 4 m - in the coastal zone; 6 m - in the open sea; 8 m and in the ocean.
The tyagun resonant water oscillations in ports, harbors, bays (with a period of 0.5-0.4 min), causing cyclic horizontal movements of ships standing at the berths.
Icing of ships fast-growing glaciation of deck structures of ships, leading to the turning of ships due to the displacement of their metacentre.
Flooding is a significant flooding of the area as a result of rising water levels in a river, lake, reservoir, caused by various reasons (spring snowmelt, heavy rainfall and rainfall, ice jam on rivers, breakthroughs of dams, wind surge, etc.).
High water is a relatively short-term and non-periodic rise in water level.
Congestion is an accumulation of ice in the riverbed, restricting the course of the river and leading to the rise of water and its spill.
A jam is a phenomenon similar to a jam. But it consists of an accumulation of loose ice (sludge, small ice) and is observed at the beginning of winter.
Flooding - an increase in the level of groundwater, which violates the normal economic use of land.
Low low water (low water) - periods within the annual cycle during which low water content is observed due to a sharp decrease in water inflow from the catchment area.
Epidemic - a widespread infectious disease of people, significantly exceeding the incidence rate usually recorded in a given territory.
A pandemic is an unusually large spread of the incidence both in level and in the extent of spread, covering a number of countries and continents.
Epizootic - a widespread infectious animals in the economy, district, region, Republic.
Panzootia is an unusually widespread infectious disease of animals.
Epiphytotia - the spread of an infectious disease of plants to large areas over a period of time.
Panfitotia is a massive plant disease covering several countries or continents.
Dangerous natural phenomena include all those that deviate the state of the natural environment from the range that is optimal for human life and for the economy that it conducts. They represent catastrophic processes of endogenous and exogenous origin: earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods, avalanches and mudflows, as well as landslides, subsidence of soils.
In terms of the size of the one-time damage, the effects of natural hazards vary from minor to natural disasters.
A natural disaster is any inevitable formidable destructive natural phenomenon that causes economic damage and threatens the health and life of people. When it comes to measuring losses, use the term - emergency (ES). In emergencies, absolute losses are primarily measured - for a quick response, for deciding on the necessary external assistance to the affected area, etc.
Catastrophic earthquakes (9 points or more) cover areas of Kamchatka, the Kuril Islands, and several other mountainous regions. In such areas, engineering construction, as a rule, is not conducted.
Strong (from 7 to 9 points) earthquakes occur in a territory that extends a wide strip from Kamchatka to, including Baikal, and others. Only earthquake-resistant construction should be carried out here.
Most of the territory of Russia belongs to the zone in which earthquakes of small magnitude are extremely rare. So, in 1977 in Moscow tremors were recorded with a force of 4 points, although the epicenter of the earthquake itself was in the Carpathians.
Despite the great work done by scientists to predict seismic hazard, earthquake prediction is a very complex problem. To solve it, they build special maps, mathematical models, organize a system of regular observations using seismic instruments, compile a description of past earthquakes based on a study of a complex of factors, including the behavior of living organisms, analyzing their geographical distribution.
The most effective ways to deal with floods are through-flow regulation and the construction of protective dams and dams. So, the length of dams and dams is more than 1800 miles. Without this protection, 2/3 of its territory would be flooded by the tide every day. To protect against floods, a dam has been constructed. The peculiarity of this implemented project is that it requires high-quality wastewater treatment in the city and the normal functioning of the culverts in the dam itself, which was not provided for in the dam design properly. The construction and operation of such engineering facilities also require the determination of an assessment of possible environmental consequences.
Floods - an annually repeated seasonal long-term and significant increase in river water content, which are accompanied by an increase in the water level in the channel and flooding of the floodplain - is one of the main causes of floods.
Large floodplains floods during floods are observed in most of the CIS, in and Eastern Europe.
Sat down — mud or mud-stone flows that suddenly occur in the channels of mountain rivers and are characterized by a sharp short-term (1 - 3 hours) rise in the water level in rivers, wave-like movement and lack of full periodicity. Mud can occur during heavy rainfall, intense melting of snow and ice, less often as a result of volcanic eruptions, breakthroughs of mountain lakes and also as a result of human activities (blasting, etc.). The prerequisites for the formation are: cover of slope deposits, significant slopes of mountain slopes, increased soil moisture. The composition distinguishes mud-stone, water-stone, mud and water-mudflow mudflows in which the content of solid material varies from 10-15 to 75%. Separate fragments carried by mudflows weigh more than 100-200 tons. The mudflow speed reaches 10 m / s, and the volumes are hundreds of thousands and sometimes millions cubic meters. Having a large mass and speed of movement, mudflows often bring destruction, acquiring the character of a natural disaster in the most catastrophic cases. So, in 1921, a catastrophic mudflow destroyed Alma-Ata, while about 500 people died. Currently, this city is reliably protected by a mudflow dam and a complex of special engineering structures. The main measures to combat mudflows are associated with the consolidation of the vegetation cover on the mountain slopes, with the preventive launching of threatening mountain breakthroughs, with the construction of dams and various mud protection structures.
Avalanches — masses of snow falling down steep mountain slopes. Especially often avalanches go off in those cases when the snow masses form shafts or snow cornices hanging over the underlying slope. Avalanches occur when snow stability is disturbed on a slope under the influence of heavy snowfalls, intense snowmelt, rains, non-crystallization of the snow mass with the formation of a loosely connected deep horizon. Depending on the nature of the snow movement along the slopes, they distinguish: axial — snow landslides sliding over the entire surface of the slope; channel avalanches - moving along hollows, ravines and erosive furrows, jumping from ledges. Upon descent from dry snow, a destructive air wave propagates ahead. The avalanches themselves have a huge destructive force, since their volume can reach 2 million m 3, and the impact force - 60-100 t / m2. Typically, avalanches, although with varying degrees of constancy, are confined year after year to the same places - foci of different sizes and configurations.
To deal with avalanches, protection systems have been developed and are being created that include the placement of snow shields, the prohibition of deforestation and forest planting on avalanche slopes, the shelling of dangerous slopes from artillery guns, the construction of avalanche ramparts and ditches. Avalanche control is very complex and requires a lot of material costs.
In addition to the catastrophic processes described above, there are also such as collapsing, sliding, slipping, subsidence, coastal destruction, etc. All these processes lead to the movement of matter, often on a large scale. The fight against these phenomena should be aimed at weakening and preventing (where possible) processes that cause a negative impact on the stability of engineering structures that endanger the lives of people.
20. Moonlight rainbow.
We are almost used to the usual rainbow. A moon rainbow is a much rarer occurrence than a rainbow seen in daylight. A lunar rainbow can appear only in places with high humidity and only when the moon is almost full. The photo shows a moonlight rainbow at Cumberland Falls in Kentucky.
19. Mirages
Despite its prevalence, mirages always cause an almost mystical feeling of surprise. We all know the reason for the appearance of most mirages - superheated air changes its optical properties, causing light inhomogeneities called mirages.
Typically, halo occur in high humidity or severe frost - before the halo was considered a phenomenon from above, and people expected something unusual.
17. Belt of Venus
An interesting optical phenomenon that occurs when the atmosphere is dusty is an unusual “belt” between the sky and the horizon.
16. Pearl clouds
Extremely high clouds (about 10-12 km) that become visible when the sun sets.
15. Northern Lights.
Appears in a collision of high-energy elementary particles in a collision with the Earth's ionosphere.
14. The Color Moon
If the atmosphere is dusty, high humidity, or for other reasons, the moon sometimes looks colored. The red moon is especially unusual.
13. Biconvex clouds
An extremely rare phenomenon that appears mainly in front of a hurricane. Opened only 30 years ago. Mammatus clouds are also called.
12. The lights of St. Elmo.
A fairly common phenomenon caused by increased electric field strength before a thunderstorm, during a thunderstorm and immediately after. The first witnesses to this phenomenon were sailors observing the lights of St. Elmo on masts and other vertical pointed objects.
11. Fiery whirlwinds.
Often formed during fires - can occur over burning haystacks.
10. Mushroom clouds.
Also formed over places with high temperature - over forest fires, for example.
9. Light poles.
The nature of these phenomena is similar to the conditions causing the appearance of a halo.
8. Diamond dust.
Frozen water droplets scattering the light of the sun.
7. Fish, frog and other rains.
One of the hypotheses explaining the appearance of such rains is a tornado, which sucks nearby water bodies and transfers their contents over long distances.
The phenomenon that occurs when ice crystals fall out of clouds that do not reach the surface of the earth, evaporate along the road.
Hurricane winds with many names. Occur when air masses move from the upper layers to the lower.
4. A fiery rainbow.
Occurs with the passage of sunshine through high clouds.
3. Green ray.
Extremely rare occurrence during sunset or sunrise.
2. Ball lightning.
There are many hypotheses explaining the origin of these phenomena, but not one has yet been proven.
1. Optical flashes and jets
Opened only recently due to its short existence (less than a second). Occur when hurricanes appear.
Dangerous natural phenomena mean extreme climatic or meteorological phenomena occurring naturally in one way or another point on the planet. In some regions, such dangerous phenomena can occur with a greater frequency and destructive force than in others. Natural hazards develop into natural disasters when the infrastructure created by civilization collapses and people die.
1. Earthquakes
Among all natural hazards, the first place should be given to earthquakes. In places of ruptures of the earth's crust, tremors occur, which cause oscillations of the earth's surface with the release of gigantic energy. The arising seismic waves are transmitted over very large distances, although these waves have the greatest destructive force in the epicenter of an earthquake. Due to strong fluctuations in the earth's surface, massive destruction of buildings occurs.
Since there are quite a lot of earthquakes, and the earth’s surface is quite densely built up, the total number of people in history who died precisely as a result of earthquakes exceeds the number of all victims of other natural disasters and amounts to many millions. For example, over the past decade, around 700 thousand people have died from earthquakes around the world. From the most destructive tremors, entire settlements collapsed instantly. Japan is the country most affected by earthquakes, and one of the most catastrophic earthquakes occurred there in 2011. The epicenter of this earthquake was in the ocean near the island of Honshu, on the Richter scale, the shock force reached 9.1 points. Powerful shocks and the ensuing devastating tsunami destroyed the Fukushima nuclear power plant, destroying three out of four power units. Radiation covered a significant area around the station, making dense populated areas unsuitable for life, so valuable in Japan. Of tremendous power, the tsunami wave turned into a mess that could not destroy the earthquake. Only officially died over 16 thousand people, to which you can safely reckon another 2.5 thousand, considered missing. Only in this century, devastating earthquakes occurred in the Indian Ocean, Iran, Chile, Haiti, Italy, Nepal.
2. Tsunami waves
A specific water disaster in the form of tsunami waves often results in numerous casualties and catastrophic destruction. As a result of underwater earthquakes or shifts of tectonic plates, very fast but subtle waves appear in the ocean, which grow into huge waves as they approach the shores and go into shallow water. Most often, tsunamis occur in areas with increased seismic activity. A huge mass of water, rapidly approaching the shore, blows everything in its path, picks it up and carries it deeper into the coast, and then carries it back to the ocean with a reverse current. People who are unable to feel danger, like animals, often do not notice the approach of a death wave, and when they notice, it becomes too late.
More people are usually killed by the tsunami than by the earthquake that caused it (the last case in Japan). In 1971, the most powerful tsunami observed occurred there, the wave of which rose 85 meters at a speed of about 700 km / h. But the most catastrophic was the tsunami observed in the Indian Ocean in 2004, the source of which was an earthquake off the coast of Indonesia, which claimed the lives of about 300 thousand people along a significant part of the Indian Ocean.
Environmental disasters have their own specifics - during them not a single person may die, but a very significant one will be inflicted ...
3. Volcano eruption
Throughout its history, mankind has remembered many catastrophic volcanic eruptions. When the pressure of magma exceeds the strength of the earth's crust in the weakest places, which are volcanoes, it ends with an explosion and outpourings of lava. But the lava itself is not so dangerous, from which one can simply get away, like hot pyroclastic gases rushing from the mountain, pierced here and there by lightning, as well as a noticeable effect on the climate of the strongest eruptions.
Volcanologists count with five hundred dangerous active volcanoes, several sleeping supervolcanoes, not counting thousands of extinct. So, during the eruption of the Tambora volcano in Indonesia for two days, the surrounding lands were plunged into darkness, 92 thousand inhabitants died, and even the cooling in Europe and America was felt.
List of some strong volcanic eruptions:
- Volcano Lucky (Iceland, 1783).As a result of that eruption, a third of the island’s population died - 20 thousand inhabitants. The eruption lasted for 8 months, during which flows of lava and liquid mud erupted from volcanic cracks. Geysers have become more active than ever. Living on the island at that time was almost impossible. The crop was destroyed, and even the fish disappeared, so the survivors experienced hunger and suffered from unbearable living conditions. Perhaps this is the longest eruption in human history.
- Tambora Volcano (Indonesia, Sumbawa Island, 1815). When the volcano exploded, the sound of this explosion spread over 2 thousand kilometers. Even the remote islands of the archipelago covered with ashes, 70 thousand people died from the eruption. But even today, Tambora is one of the highest mountains in Indonesia, which maintains volcanic activity.
- Volcano Krakatau (Indonesia, 1883).100 years after Tambora, another catastrophic eruption occurred in Indonesia, this time "demolished" (literally) the volcano Krakatau. After a catastrophic explosion that destroyed the volcano itself, terrifying peals were heard for another two months. A gigantic amount of rocks, ash and hot gases were thrown into the atmosphere. The eruption was followed by a powerful tsunami with a wave height of up to 40 meters. These two natural disasters together destroyed 34 thousand islanders along with the island itself.
- Volcano Santa Maria (Guatemala, 1902). After a 500-year hibernation in 1902, this volcano woke up again, beginning the 20th century with the most catastrophic eruption, which resulted in the formation of a 1.5 km long crater. In 1922, Santa Maria again reminded herself - this time the eruption itself was not too strong, but a cloud of hot gases and ash caused the death of 5 thousand people.
4. Tornadoes
Throughout the history of mankind, the strongest earthquakes have done tremendous damage to people more than once and caused a huge number of victims among the population ...
A tornado is a very impressive natural phenomenon, especially in the USA, where it is called a tornado. This is an air stream spiraling into a funnel. Small tornadoes resemble slender narrow pillars, and giant tornadoes can resemble a powerful carousel directed towards the sky. The closer to the funnel, the stronger the wind speed, it begins to entrain more and more large objects, including cars, wagons and light buildings. In the "tornado alley" of the United States, whole city blocks are often destroyed and people die. The most powerful vortexes of the F5 category reach a speed of about 500 km / h in the center. Alabama tornado suffers the most each year.
There is a kind of fire tornado, which sometimes occurs in the area of \u200b\u200bmass fires. There, from the heat of the flame, powerful updrafts form, which begin to twist into a spiral, like an ordinary tornado, only this one is filled with flame. As a result, a powerful traction is formed near the surface of the earth, from which the flame grows even more and burns everything around. When a catastrophic earthquake occurred in Tokyo in 1923, it caused massive fires, which led to the formation of a fiery tornado that rose 60 meters. The pillar of fire moved towards the square with frightened people and burned 38 thousand people in a few minutes.
5. Sandstorms
This phenomenon occurs in sandy deserts when a strong wind rises. Sand, dust and particles of soil rise to a sufficiently high height, forming a cloud that dramatically reduces visibility. If an unprepared traveler gets into such a storm, then he may die from grains of sand falling into the lungs. Herodotus described the story as in 525 BC. e. in the Sahara, a 50,000th army was buried alive by a sandstorm. In Mongolia, in 2008, 46 people died as a result of this natural phenomenon, and a year earlier, two hundred people suffered the same fate.
Tornado (in America this phenomenon is called a tornado) is a fairly stable atmospheric vortex, most often occurring in thunderclouds. He is a visa ...
6. Avalanches
Snow avalanches periodically leave snow-capped mountain peaks. Climbers especially often suffer from them. During the First World War, up to 80 thousand people died from avalanches in the Tyrolean Alps. In 1679, five hundred people died from snow in Norway. In 1886 there was a major disaster, as a result of which the “white death" claimed 161 lives. The records of Bulgarian monasteries also mention the human victims of avalanches.
7. Hurricanes
In the Atlantic, they are called hurricanes, and in the Pacific, typhoons. These are huge atmospheric vortices, in the center of which the strongest winds and sharply reduced pressure are observed. In 2005, the devastating Hurricane Katrina swept over the United States, which particularly affected Louisiana and the densely populated New Orleans located at the mouth of the Mississippi. 80% of the city were flooded, killing 1836 people. Famous destructive hurricanes also became:
- Hurricane Ike (2008). The diameter of the vortex was over 900 km, and in the center of its vortex the wind blew at a speed of 135 km / h. In the 14 hours that the cyclone moved across the United States, he managed to inflict damage on $ 30 billion.
- Hurricane Wilma (2005). This is the largest Atlantic cyclone in the history of meteorological observations. The cyclone that originated in the Atlantic several times went on land. The amount of damage caused by him amounted to $ 20 billion, killing 62 people.
- Typhoon Nina (1975). This typhoon was able to break through the Chinese Banqiao dam, which led to the destruction of the dams below and a catastrophic flood. From the typhoon killed up to 230 thousand Chinese.
8. Tropical cyclones
These are the same hurricanes, but in tropical and subtropical waters, which are huge atmospheric low-pressure systems with winds and thunderstorms, in diameter often exceeding a thousand kilometers. Near the surface of the earth, winds in the center of the cyclone can reach speeds of more than 200 km / h. Low pressure and wind cause the formation of a coastal storm surge - when enormous masses of water are thrown onto the shore at high speed, washing away everything in its path.
Occasionally, tsunami waves occur in the ocean. They are very insidious - in the open ocean they are completely invisible, but if they get closer to the coastal shelf, g ...
9. Landslide
Long rains can cause landslides. The soil swells, loses stability and slides down, carrying with it everything that is on the surface of the earth. Most often, landslides occur in the mountains. In 1920, the most destructive landslide occurred in China, under which 180 thousand people were buried. Other examples:
- Bududa (Uganda, 2010). Due to mudflows, 400 people died, and 200 thousand had to be evacuated.
- Sichuan (China, 2008). Avalanches, landslides and mudflows caused by an 8-point earthquake claimed 20 thousand lives.
- Leite (Philippines, 2006). Rainfall caused mudflows and a landslide, which killed 1,100 people.
- Vargas (Venezuela, 1999). Mudflows and landslides after heavy rains (almost 1000 mm of precipitation fell in 3 days) on the northern coast led to the death of almost 30 thousand people.
10. Ball lightnings
We are accustomed to the usual linear lightning accompanied by thunder, but ball lightning is much more rare and mysterious. The nature of this phenomenon is electric, but scientists cannot yet give a more accurate description of ball lightning. It is known that it can have different sizes and shapes, most often it is yellowish or reddish luminous spheres. For unknown reasons, ball lightning often ignores the laws of mechanics. Most often they occur before a thunderstorm, although they can appear in absolutely clear weather, as well as indoors or in the cockpit. A luminous ball with a slight hissing hangs in the air, then it can begin to move in an arbitrary direction. Over time, it seems to shrink, until it completely disappears or explodes with a roar.
