River Catatumbo Lightning
You must have heard that lightening doesn’t strike the same place twice. Say that to the natives of Venezuela and they will ride you down to the mouth of river Catatumbo and let you watch the spectacular lightening show of your life. The Catatumbo Lightning is one of the coolest natural phenomenon on earth. It occurs strictly in an area located over the mouth of the Catatumbo River where it empties into Lake Maracaibo. Over this relatively small area powerful flashes of lightening more than 5 km in height strike at surprising frequency - during 140 to 160 nights a year, 10 hours per day and up to 280 times per hour.
The Catatumbo Lightning is likely to be caused by ionised gases - specifically the methane created by the decomposition of organic matter in the marshes - rising from a swamp to meet cooler air descending from the Andes Mountains. The meeting of the two currents creates an electrical charge that is discharged as lightening. The lightning is seen most often in the afternoons, when evaporation is greatest.
This phenomenon, also known with the popular name of the Lighthouse of Maracaibo, is easy to be seen from hundreds of miles away. These thunderstorms have a beneficial effect on the earth’s ecosystem too because they produce a high percentage of all the ozone production worldwide. The Catatumbo lightning can be considered a major regenerator of the planet's ozone layer, as it produces approximately 1,176,000 kW of atmospheric electricity.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
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Tunnel of Love in Kleven, Ukraine
This beautiful train tunnel of trees called the Tunnel of Love is located in Kleven, Ukraine. Nothing else is known about this place. Can anybody throw some light here.
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The Cloud Covered Island of Litla Dimun
Litla Dimun is a small island between the islands of Suouroy and Stora Dimun in the Faroe Islands. It is the smallest of the main 18 islands, being less than 100 hectares (250 acres) in area, and is the only one uninhabited. One of the most striking feature of this island is that it often remains covered in clouds. This type of cloud is known as Lenticular clouds, so called because it is shaped like a lens. Lenticular clouds are always stationary and when formed over mountain peaks or islands, like Litla Dimun, looks like a majestic hat.
Panjin Red Beach, China
The Red Beach is located in the Liaohe River Delta, about 30 kilometer southwest of Panjin City in China. The beach gets its name from its appearance, which is caused by a type of sea weed that flourishes in the saline-alkali soil. The weed that start growing during April or May remains green during the summer. In autumn, this weed turns flaming red, and the beach looks as if it was covered by an infinite red carpet that creates a rare red sea landscape. Most of the Red Beach is a nature reserve and closed to the public. Only a small, remote, section is open for tourists.
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At the beginning of the wet season (which is usually October / November), over 50 million adult red crabs suddenly start migrating from the forest to the coast to breed. The migration is usually synchronized all over the island. The males lead the first wave of the migration and are joined by females as they progress. The crabs take about five to seven days to reach the sea. The rains and moist overcast conditions make their journey to the sea long and difficult.
Annual Red Crab Migration on Christmas Island
Christmas Island is a small Australian island in the Indian Ocean, 2,600 kilometers northwest of the city of Perth, that is home to many species of animal and plant. The island is particularly noted for its prodigious populations of Christmas Island red crabs, a species of land crab that is endemic to the island, and their spectacular migration from the forest to the coast each year during the breeding season.
At the beginning of the wet season (which is usually October / November), over 50 million adult red crabs suddenly start migrating from the forest to the coast to breed. The migration is usually synchronized all over the island. The males lead the first wave of the migration and are joined by females as they progress. The crabs take about five to seven days to reach the sea. The rains and moist overcast conditions make their journey to the sea long and difficult.
During peak migration times, sections of roads where crabs cross in high numbers are closed to vehicles for short periods of time. The bright red carapaces and sheer density of crabs make their routes to the sea observable from the air.
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Terrifying Glass Skywalk on the Side of Tianmen Mountain
Jutting out from a sheer cliff 1,430 meters high, the glass skywalk in Zhangjiajie National Forest Park offers sightseers terrifying thrills and clear view of the mountains below as they tread nervously across the 60 meter long bridge encircling the vertical cliffs of Tianmen Mountain in Hunan province. The 3ft-wide, 2.5in thick glass walkway is so scary that sightseers are requested to wear cloth slip-ons over their shoes when they cross the skywalk, presumably to make the job easier for the cleaners.
No matter how terrifying the glass skywalk looks, it can only be an improvement from the treacherous road made of wooden planks thousands of feet high on the sides of the Huashan Mountain, located in the south of Huayin city.
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Amazing Street Art at Sarasota Chalk Festival
The Sarasota Chalk Festival brings in artists from around the world to display their art on the streets of Sarasota, Florida. The festival, which took place between November 1 to 7, 2011, is the only international event celebrating 16th century Italian street painting.
The festival attracted 200,000 visitors to see more than a hundred artists from all over the world transform Burns Square in downtown Sarasota into an outdoor museum gallery in motion using chalk as their medium and the pavement as their canvas. This year’s lineup includes innovator of 3D pavement art Kurt Wenner from Washington, Melanie Stimmell Van Latam from California, Michael Kirby from Maryland, Leon Keer from Netherlands, Eduardo Relero from Spain, Vera Bugatti from Italy and Tomoteru Saito from Japan.
Here are some amazing creations from the festival.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
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The possibility of tarps and metal coverings were explored but they were either too expensive or will take too long to install. So one of the DWP's biologists, Brian White, suggested "bird balls," commonly used by airports to prevent birds from congregating in wet areas alongside runways. The balls are made of polyethylene and cost only 40 cents each. The coating contains carbon and black is the only color strong enough to deflect ultraviolet rays.
Ivanhoe Reservoir Covered With 400,000 Black Plastic Balls
In 2007, the Department of Water Protection in Los Angeles detected high levels of bromate, a carcinogen that forms when bromide and chlorine react with sunlight, in Los Angeles’s Ivanhoe Reservoir. Bromide is naturally present in groundwater and chlorine is used to kill bacteria, but sunlight is the final ingredient in the potentially harmful mix. The 102-year-old facility serves about 600,000 customers downtown and in South Los Angeles. When the Department of Water Protection realized the problem, they began construction of a new underground reservoir in Griffith Park, but while the new facility was being built they had to determine a way to keep the sunlight out of the water.
The possibility of tarps and metal coverings were explored but they were either too expensive or will take too long to install. So one of the DWP's biologists, Brian White, suggested "bird balls," commonly used by airports to prevent birds from congregating in wet areas alongside runways. The balls are made of polyethylene and cost only 40 cents each. The coating contains carbon and black is the only color strong enough to deflect ultraviolet rays.
400,000 balls were dropped into the reservoir on June 2008, where they will remain for the next four to five years until the new underground reservoir is completed.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
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Strange Airport#2: Kansai International, Japan
Kansai International Airport is Japan's second most important international airport, located on an artificial island in the middle of Osaka Bay, 38 km southwest of ĹŚsaka Station. The airport was opened in 1994 to relieve overcrowding at Osaka International Airport, which is located in the densely-populated suburbs of Itami and Toyonaka surrounded by buildings and therefore could not be expanded. A man-made island, 4 km long and 2.5 km wide, was proposed.
Construction started in 1987. A sea wall was erected made of rock and 48,000 concrete blocks. Three mountains were excavated for 21,000,000 cubic meter of landfill. 10,000 workers and 10 million work hours over three years, using eighty ships, were needed to complete the 30-metre layer of earth over the sea floor and inside the sea wall. A three kilometer bridge connects the island to the mainland.
The total cost of Kansai Airport is estimated to be $20 billion. This includes land reclamation, two runways, terminal and facilities. Most additional costs were initially due to the island sinking, expected due to the soft soils of Osaka Bay. After construction the rate of sinking was considered so severe that the airport was widely criticized as a geotechnical engineering disaster. Despite the early misfortunes, the Kansai International Airport is a great engineering achievement. In 2001, the airport was named one of ten structures given the "Civil Engineering Monument of the Millennium" award by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
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During the fall in big cities like Shanghai, pet markets are crowded with cricket enthusiasts. They huddle over suppliers from the countryside, haggling as they lift lids on soup-can-size cylinders to inspect each occupant's legs and jaws. Buyers often buy two crickets and make them fight, keeping the winning one for contests.
Cricket Fighting Contests in China
Cricket fighting is a form of amusement popular in many areas in China. It was nurtured by Tang Dynasty emperors more than 1,000 years ago and later popularized by the commoners. During the Tang dynasty (618 – 906 A.D.), people started to keep crickets in cages and enjoy their songs while in captivity. Under the Song dynasty (960 – 1278 A.D.), cricket fighting flourished as a popular sport. In the 13th century, the Southern Song Dynasty prime minister Jia Sidao even wrote a how-to guide for the blood sport. Jia's obsession with cricket fighting is believed to have contributed to the fall of the empire. During the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) China's Communist government banned cricket fighting as a bourgeois predilection, but it is now undergoing a revival among a younger generation eager to embrace genuinely Chinese pastimes.
During the fall in big cities like Shanghai, pet markets are crowded with cricket enthusiasts. They huddle over suppliers from the countryside, haggling as they lift lids on soup-can-size cylinders to inspect each occupant's legs and jaws. Buyers often buy two crickets and make them fight, keeping the winning one for contests.
Crickets from Shandong province, particularly those from Ningjin County, are most prized. The cricket bred in Ningjin County is big in head, neck and legs with fine color of skin. Meanwhile, they are born with indomitable will to fight and strong power of endurance, ferocity, toughness and unyieldingness. Ningjin County had provided crickets as tribute to emperors during the past dynasties in ancient China.
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Acrobatic Display of Starling Murmuration
Every year during autumn, thousands of starlings put on a spectacular dance show just before dusk over the sky in Scotland (and other countries in the temperate regions), in a breathtaking phenomenon called murmurations. This is when a huge flock of migratory birds form a magical shape-shifting flight pattern in the sky. Murmaration is common among starlings, a small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Sturnidae, commonly called mynas in Asia. Flocking starlings are one of nature’s most extraordinary sights.
Scientists aren’t sure how they do it. Even complex algorithmic models haven’t yet explained the starlings’ acrobatics, which rely on the tiny bird’s quicksilver reaction time of under 100 milliseconds to avoid aerial collisions—and predators—in the giant flock. The birds tend to flock together for protection and can reach speeds of up to 20 mph.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
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In summer, the trees will provide shade and filter the city’s dust; in winter, sunlight will shrine through the bare branches. Bosco Verticale's greenery will absorb carbon dioxide and produce oxygen, while protecting the building from wind and penetrating sunlight. Boeri claims that the inclusion of trees adds just 5 percent to construction costs, and is a necessary response to the sprawl of the modern city. If the units were individual houses, it would require 50,000 sq m of land, and 10,000 sq m of woodland.
Bosco Verticale: World’s First Vertical Forest in Milan
A fascinating new pair of residential tower called Bosco Verticale is being constructed at Milan, Italy. Designed by architect Stefano Boeri, Bosco Verticale is being construed as “a project for metropolitan reforestation that contributes to the regeneration of the environment and urban biodiversity without the implication of expanding the city upon the territory”. Towering over the city’s skyline the world's first forest in the sky will be a sight to behold. The 27 storied building will accommodate nearly one hectare of forest trees as tall as oak and amelanchiers in its cleverly designed balconies. The 365 and 260 foot emerald twin towers will house an astonishing 900 trees, 5,000 shrubs and 11,000 ground cover plants.
This is a concept illustration of how Bosco Verticale will look like when completed.
In summer, the trees will provide shade and filter the city’s dust; in winter, sunlight will shrine through the bare branches. Bosco Verticale's greenery will absorb carbon dioxide and produce oxygen, while protecting the building from wind and penetrating sunlight. Boeri claims that the inclusion of trees adds just 5 percent to construction costs, and is a necessary response to the sprawl of the modern city. If the units were individual houses, it would require 50,000 sq m of land, and 10,000 sq m of woodland.
Thoroughly enjoyed this post. Absolutely amazing, besides being informative. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeletePleasure :O) Glad you found it as interesting as I did.
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