Awesome Photo: Predatory Coral Eats Jellyfish
November 17, 2009
Coral seems so peaceful and passive, rippling in the currents of the sea in all its colorful beauty. It’s easy to forget that it’s actually an animal and not a plant. But, perhaps this photo will remind you – captured on a dive in Israel in March, it’s the first documentation of coral feeding on a jellyfish.
From BBC News:
Ocean currents and nutrients had created a seasonal bloom of the jellyfish (Aurelia aurita) and many surrounded the reef in which the team were diving.
It was then they saw the strange behaviour.
“During the survey we were amazed to notice some mushroom corals actively feeding on the moon jellyfish,” says Ada Alamaru, a member of the research team who is doing her PhD in marine biology supervised by Prof Yossi Loya at Tel Aviv University, Israel.
“We couldn’t believe our eyes when we saw it,” Ms Alamaru says.
Researchers believe that coral’s ability to survive on a variety of food sources may give it an advantage in a changing world – and it’s going to need it. Reefs are increasingly threatened by climate change, particularly increased air and sea surface temperatures, rises in sea level, changes in weather patterns and changes in seawater chemistry.
But acidification of the world’s oceans from human CO2 emissions is an extremely formidable opponent for coral to face, and it’s hard to say right now whether they’ll make it through the fight.
Link [BBC News]
Best (Non)Advertisement Ever
November 9, 2009
Isn’t it nice to look up at a billboard, just once, to see that no one is trying to shove a product down your throat? A joy, indeed – and a nice thing to see at the outset of the holiday season, when, nearly 2 months from Christmas, we’re already being bombarded with “BUY ME!” ads.
Via [Treehugger]
The Invisible Man: Liu Bolin’s Amazing Camouflage Art
October 9, 2009
What if humans could blend into the environment as effortlessly as some animals can? A photography series by Beijing-based artist Liu Bolin called ‘Camouflage’ explores a fascinating way to do this, without the use of camo print: painting human subjects so that they disappear into a background.
Bolin painstakingly paints his subjects’ faces, hair, hands, clothing and shoes to match a chosen setting, taking up to ten hours per shoot to get it just right. In some photos, like the two shown above, it really takes a moment to spot the people in the photos. Often, passersby can’t even tell that they’re there.
Of the series, the artist says, “In my photography, historical statues, costumes and architecture become symbols of that which confines us. I am expressing the desire to break through these structures. I portray subjects that seem to disappear into these structures and become transparent. The subject is released from social constructs and he is free.”
Link [ArtInfo.com] + [Design Boom]
Light Pillars: Amazing Natural Phenomenon
September 10, 2009
Photo credit: National Geographic
From a distance, it looks like someone spared no expense to put on a spectacular, colorful light show that can be seen from miles away. But these strange columns of light that often confound onlookers are actually caused by the combined forces of light and falling ice crystals.
Photo credit: Walter Tape
Usually seen only in polar regions, light pillars – as this phenomenon is called – result when natural or artificial light bounces off ice crystals as they waft to the ground. When the light source is close to the ground, the pillars appear above the floating crystals. When the light is coming from the sun or moon, the pillars appear beneath the crystals.
Photo credit: National Geographic
The height and brightness of light pillars depends upon the shape of the ice crystals. Crystals with plate or column shapes produce the most stunning effects. Ice crystals that cause light pillars can be found in ice clouds, ice fogs, blowing snow and what is known as diamond dust – ground-level clouds made up of tiny ice crystals.
Photo credit: ArborSci.com
While light pillars formed by sunlight may only extend a few degrees, in artificial light, they can extend 90 degrees or more depending on your vantage point.
Learn more about the science of light pillars at The Weather Doctor.
Link [National Geographic]
That’s not a UFO, it’s a Lenticular Cloud!
June 29, 2009
What’s that round, dense-looking object hovering in the sky? It wouldn’t be too hard for UFO believers to assume, particularly at twilight when they’re backlit, that these strange formations are actually alien aircraft. But, what you’re looking at is a natural phenomenon. Lenticular clouds form at high altitudes, aligned to the wind direction, and often seem to stay in the same place while other clouds move around them.
Lenticular clouds are particularly common over mountains, where strong wind flow pushes moist air upward, causing it to condense. They often look like discs, stacks of pancakes, funnels, or mushrooms. Sometimes, the air is forced in a pattern that resembles waves in the sea.
While they appear stationary, that’s actually not the case. The flow of moist air continually resupplies the cloud even as water evaporates, keeping the same shape until the wind or weather changes.
While power pilots try to avoid flying near lenticular clouds because of the turbulence of the rotor systems, sailplane pilots actively seek them out because they enable gliders to soar extremely high and far.
Check out this time lapse video of lenticular clouds forming over Mount Rainier:
Image via icestories.exploratorium.edu
So next time you see what you think might be a UFO, look a little closer. It might just be a mundane – yet spectacular – lenticular cloud formation.
Link [Wikipedia]
Earth Hour Photos Highlight Problem of Light Pollution
April 2, 2009
There’s been a lot of disagreement, even among environmentalists, about how effective Earth Hour really is in sending a message about the need to fight global warming. But regardless of whether you feel it’s an important and powerful symbolic act or think it does more harm than good, one thing is clear when viewing the dramatic Earth Hour photos from around the world: light pollution is out of control.
Boston.com has an incredible series of images depicting cities from Hong Kong to Las Vegas going dark, showing before-and-after photos that make you realize how alarmingly bright most cities are. And, most of these lights aren’t necessarily adding to safety – they’re simply for looks.
When you click on the images on the Boston.com site, you can see the difference between the city being fully lit and when a number of key lights were turned off during Earth Hour. Check out how much the sky darkens when the lights are turned off.
Light pollution isn’t just a nuisance for our eyes; it’s an environmental issue. National Geographic explains:
We’ve lit up the night as if it were an unoccupied country, when nothing could be further from the truth. Among mammals alone, the number of nocturnal species is astonishing. Light is a powerful biological force, and on many species it acts as a magnet, a process being studied by researchers such as Travis Longcore and Catherine Rich, co-founders of the Los Angeles-based Urban Wildlands Group. The effect is so powerful that scientists speak of songbirds and seabirds being “captured” by searchlights on land or by the light from gas flares on marine oil platforms, circling and circling in the thousands until they drop. Migrating at night, birds are apt to collide with brightly lit tall buildings; immature birds on their first journey suffer disproportionately.
Light pollution has disturbed precisely timed biological behavior, affecting migration in some species and causing others to sing at unnatural times. Nesting sea turtles are confused by artificial light, and nocturnal animals have become more visible to predators.
And yet, Earth Hour has proven how easy it is to remedy these problems – with the flip of a switch. Why should the Syndey Opera House be fully illuminated at all hours of the night? Why must so many street lights be designed in such a way that they light up the sky instead of the ground? Reducing light pollution doesn’t mean we all need to sit around in the dark. It’s just about smarter use of illumination.
I can’t put it any better than National Geographic’s Verlyn Klinkenborg:
Living in a glare of our own making, we have cut ourselves off from our evolutionary and cultural patrimony—the light of the stars and the rhythms of day and night. In a very real sense, light pollution causes us to lose sight of our true place in the universe, to forget the scale of our being, which is best measured against the dimensions of a deep night with the Milky Way—the edge of our galaxy—arching overhead.
Link [Boston.com] via [Ecorazzi] + [National Geographic]
7 Terrifying Photographic Depictions of Global Warming
March 15, 2009
You don’t have to be a scientist to see the effect that global warming is already having on the world. Signs are popping up around the globe, from Bihar, India to coastal Alaska. Here at EarthFirst we’ve covered the places that are getting the worst of it, and now Treehugger has put together 7 disturbing images that show just how real – and terrifying – global warming is.
Thousands of dead fish, shrinking glaciers and massive dust storms are just a few of the photos that will make you want to ramp up your own personal fight against global warming. Here are three of ‘em – check out the rest over at Treehugger.
Top photo: Glacier in Patagonia, Argentina 1928. Glacier in Patagonia, Argentina 2004. 76 years of climate change. Then, and now. Scary.
Photo via Greenpeace
Thanks to growing marine dead zones that are caused by global warming, there’s been a huge spike in dead sea life in recent years–and it often washes up on shore, providing us with an unsubtle reminder.
Photo via CDNN
Hurricanes aren’t the only severe weather conditions that global warming stirs up—massive dust clouds like this one are becoming more frequent, and more violent, in regions like Southern Africa.
Photo via Daily Mail
Link [Treehugger]
10 Photos of Stunning Green Roofs from Around the World
February 14, 2009
Green roofs are sprouting up around the globe, on both complex commercial and public buildings and tiny backyard sheds. Green roofs are planted with grass, flowers, shrubs and other greenery atop a waterproofing membrane and help to reduce heating and cooling loads, reduce stormwater runoff, filter pollutants and greenhouse gases out of the air and increase natural habitats in urban areas. Here are 10 beautiful green roofs from Tokyo to Wisconsin that illustrate just how versatile this concept really is.
(image via: Inhabitat)
This incredible green roof is at the School of Art, Design and Media at Nanyang Technical University in Singapore. The 5-story facility blends in effortlessly with the wooded campus around it, blurring the line between nature and architecture.
(image via: thegrowspot.com)
If it weren’t for the perfect dome shape and the skylights, you might not even be able to tell from atop the California Academy of Sciences that there’s a building under there. It’s been called a “masterpiece of sustainable architecture”, and it’s easy to see why.
(image via: GreenRoofs.com)
Chicago’s Millenium Park is the biggest green roof in the world at 1,067,220 sq.ft. Hidden beneath the vast expanse of grass and flowers is a parking garage.
(image via: Flickr user Bockstark Knits)
The Waldspirale is a residential complex in Darmstadt, Germany covered with grass, shrubs, flowers and trees. ‘Waldspirale’ means ‘wooded spiral’, a name that reflects both the unusual shape of the building and its green roof.
(image via: Metaefficient)
The ACROS Fukuoka building in Fukuoka, Japan looks like a conventional office building on one side, but features a dramatic terraced green roof on the other. The garden terraces contain around 35,000 plants representing 76 species.
(image via: Environment Solutions)
Grassy roofs have been a tradition in Norway for hundreds of years. These ‘torvtaks’, or ‘turf roofs’ can be seen all over the country, even on the humblest of buildings.
(image via: ABC News)
The green roof at the Library Square building in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia was planted with kinnickinick in a pattern that mimics the flow of the nearby Fraser River.
(image via: Apartment Therapy)
Apartment Therapy spotted this green roof in Iceland, planted with grass and flowers. Green roofs are gaining popularity around the world for both commercial and residential buildings alike.
(image via: StreetsBlog)
What could be more relaxing in a big, bustling, concrete jungle like New York City than to escape to your rooftop and enjoy the sights and smells of greenery? Green roofs are slowly growing more popular in big urban cities not just for their ecological benefits but as relaxing getaways. This one is atop the Solaire Building in Battery Park.
(image via: Treehugger)
Goats on a green roof? Why not? Al Johnson’s Swedish Restaurant in Door County, Wisconsin employs goats to graze away all summer long, with the benefits of both neatly trimmed grass and grabbing the attention of tourists passing by.
The Bizarre Natural Phenomenon of Ball Lightning – Photos and Video
January 29, 2009
Image via Xenophilia
No, that’s not a UFO you just saw travel across the horizon. That bizarre orb of glowing light is called ‘ball lightning’, and despite many reports of sightings over hundreds of years, scientists still know very little about this strange and unusual natural phenomenon.
They can’t tell us what causes it, or even exactly what it is. They can’t explain why people report being able to get startlingly close to these orbs, which reportedly range in size from tennis balls to beach balls, and seeing them roll on the ground.
Image via Xenophilia
National Geographic has a first-hand account from Graham K. Hubler, a physicist at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Washington DC:
“It drifted along a few feet above the ground,” Hubler recalled, “but when it came inside [the pavilion] it dropped down to the ground and skittered along the floor.”
“It made lots of gyrations or oscillations and a hissing sound like boiling water. When it went out the other side [of the pavilion], it climbed back up [several feet off the ground].”
Hubler says the ball behaved as if it had a charge and was following electric field lines along the Earth.
“I remember telling people what I had seen, and they thought I was crazy, so I stopped talking about it,” he said.
There are around 10,000 written accounts spanning many countries, all with similar observations. The sightings generally accompany thunderstorms, but scientists aren’t sure whether ball lightning is related to conventional lightning. Ball lightning floats near the ground, sometimes bouncing off the ground or other surfaces, doesn’t react to wind and defies the laws of gravity. An average ball lightning glows with the brightness of a 100-watt bulb, and some people have even reported seeing it melt glass windows.
Images via Ern Mainka Photography
We’ve included some photos here that purport to be of ball lightning, but it’s difficult to say whether that is really what has been captured. The one below shows what researchers believe might be ball lightning created in a laboratory.
Image via Max-Planck-Institut für Plasmaphysik
These videos may have captured ball lightning in action:
From National Geographic:
The record suggests that ball lightning is not inherently deadly, but there are reports of people being killed by contact—most notably the pioneering electricity researcher Georg Richmann, who died in 1753.
Richmann is believed to have been electrocuted by ball lightning as he conducted a lightning-rod experiment in St. Petersburg, Russia.
The phenomenon lasts only a short time, perhaps ten seconds, before either fading away or violently dissipating with a small explosion.
Theories include plasma clouds composed of charged particles that recombine into atoms and glow with light, as well as small particles holding together in a ball by electrical charges emitting chemical energy through oxidation. Researchers are trying to reproduce the conditions that seem to cause ball lightning in a laboratory setting to research the phenomenon further.
Bizarre, shocking and strange – it just goes to show that there is still so much mystery in this world, so many things we can’t explain or understand.
Link [National Geographic]
One Year In 40 Seconds
January 7, 2009
As we say hello to the new year, let’s take one last moment to salute 2008. This incredible video was created with images snapped at the same spot throughout last year by Eirik Solheim in Oslo, Norway.
9 Examples of Incredible Tornado Photography
December 28, 2008
When it comes to storm photography, there’s not much that can beat tornadoes. They’re dramatic, frightening and somehow incredibly beautiful. The first three photos shown here were taken by ‘storm chasers’ Mike Hollingshead and Eric Nguyen, who head out the door any time a tornado warning is issued in order to experience the storms up close and capture amazing images. You can see more of Nguyen’s images at his website, or in his book, Adventures in Tornado Alley: The Storm Chasers.
Storm chasers aren’t always photographers or journalists – some are research scientists, while others are just adrenaline junkies seeking the rush of being so close to danger.
Below are photographs taken by ‘The Stormgasm Team’, a group of meteorologists and meteorology students who call themselves “the most hardcore storm chasers in the world”. Jim Bishop, Tom Santillo, Simon Brewer and Reed Timmer have captured some amazing images of the storms they’ve chased all over the United States. See more of their work at Stormgasm.com.
Link [The Daily Mail]
Frozen Water: Stunning Natural Ice Formations
December 27, 2008
(Images via Haikiba, Lady Molly, James Carter, unc.edu, Getaway, Birch and Pixdaus)
If you can’t experience the mind-boggling, incredibly beautiful wonders of nature firsthand, the next best thing is definitely beautiful photographs that almost make you feel as if you’re there. When it’s this cold outside, it’s easy to imagine being face-to-face with the incredible ice formations featured on WebEcoist in the series, ’15 Epic Water and Ice Formations and Phenomena’.
(Image via pbase)
WebEcoist has compiled photos of some of the most breathtaking natural ice formations on both a small and large scale, from tiny delicate ice crystals to the majestic – and rapidly disappearing – icebergs of the Arctic.
(Images via Madhouse Thought, Weather Savvy, das.uwyo.edu, SPRI, Seaway and hickerphoto)
If you aren’t already reading WebEcoist regularly, add it to your RSS feeder or subscribe via email now. Check out my review of the online magazine over on Eco Chick – it really is a gem, and unique among the many sites in the green blogosphere.
Link [WebEcoist]
National Geographic’s Top 10 Photos of 2008
December 23, 2008
National Geographic has revealed its top 10 most viewed photos of 2008, and it’s quite a fascinating gallery. At number 10 is the photo of the “uncontacted” Amazon tribe taken from an airplane. Others on the list include a variety of giant animals – including squid, stingrays and starfish – as well as a leopard in the snow, a deadlock between a frog and a snake and an absolutely amazing capture of a “dirty thunderstorm”, in which a volcanic eruption produces a lightning-laced storm that looks like hell on earth.
From National Geographic:
10. “Uncontacted” Tribe Seen in Amazon
Shown in National Geographic News’s tenth most viewed individual photo of 2008, members of an “uncontacted” Amazon tribe fire arrows at an airplane above the rain forest borderlands of Peru and Brazil in May. The natural dyes covering their bodies probably signal aggression, native-rights experts say.
Later it was revealed that, though this tribe apparently is truly uncontacted, authorities have known about it for decades.
See the rest over at National Geographic.
Link [National Geographic]
Black Sun of Denmark: Amazing Photos of Starling Formations
December 11, 2008
Image via Flickr user Gail Johnson
Sunset in Denmark is made even more beautiful during the spring and autumn seasons by the ‘aerial ballet’ of gigantic flocks of black starlings, which occurs when the birds leave their feeding places and take flight before settling in for the night. You can see it from the middle of March to early April, and from mid-September to mid-October, about an hour before sunset. For about 20 minutes, the flocks of starlings seem to join together as one being and create breathtaking formations in the sky.
Image via National Geographic
This stunning natural phenomenon doesn’t just take place in Denmark – the photo below was taken in Great Britain.
Image via Geograph.org.uk
Images via Earth Science Picture of the Day
I wouldn’t stand or park directly under the flock of starlings to watch its movements, though. This is what happens when you do:
Link [Visit Denmark]
Northern Lights: Amazing Aurora Borealis Photography
December 4, 2008
Image via Wikimedia Commons
Not all of us can travel to the ends of the earth to personally witness the magnificent natural phenomenon of polar auroras – those breathtakingly beautiful bands of colored light that stream across the sky, primarily visible in the Arctic and Antarctic regions. It’s a sight that has inspired folklore, art and music, and it’s easy to see why. In the Arctic, it’s referred to as Aurora Borealis or northern lights, and in the Antarctic, Aurora Australis or southern polar lights.
Here’s an explanation of this beautiful display of nature:
Image via: VisitNorway.com
Image via: Borealis 2000
From Virtual Finland:
The sun gives off high-energy charged particles (also called ions) that travel out into space at speeds of 300 to 1200 kilometres per second. A cloud of such particles is called a plasma. The stream of plasma coming from the sun is known as the solar wind. As the solar wind interacts with the edge of the earth’s magnetic field, some of the particles are trapped by it and they follow the lines of magnetic force down into the ionosphere, the section of the earth’s atmosphere that extends from about 60 to 600 kilometres above the earth’s surface. When the particles collide with the gases in the ionosphere they start to glow, producing the spectacle that we know as the auroras, northern and southern. The array of colours consists of red, green, blue and violet.
Image via Wikimedia Commons
The Northern Lights are constantly in motion because of the changing interaction between the solar wind and the earth’s magnetic field. The solar wind commonly generates up to 1000,000 megawatts of electricity in an auroral display and this can cause interference with power lines, radio and television broadcasts and satellite communications. By studying the auroras, scientists can learn more about the solar wind, how it affects the earth’s atmosphere and how the energy of the auroras might be exploited for useful purposes.
Image via National Geographic
Alaska, the Scandinavian coast, areas of northern Greenland, and Siberia tend to have the best views of this amazing display, but it can be seen in other areas as well, including rare sightings in continental America.
The wonders of nature can certainly be pretty awe-inspiring.
Link [Virtual Finland]
A Different Perspective on Our Atmosphere
October 26, 2008
“When I look up in the sky, the atmosphere seems endless.”
“How could that silly, invisible carbon-stuff really hurt anything?”
“WOW, is that really how thin our atmosphere is?”
“It looks so FRAGILE from up here.”
EXACTLY.
Check out the full-sized version of this image by Brad Sharek on “Who Knew? An Occasional Look at Things From a Different Perspective”.
Link [Sharek.com]
Light Pollution Wastes Energy, Disturbs Wildlife
October 21, 2008
Civilization has long since evolved past going to bed at nightfall and rising at dawn, or sitting around in the dark. We need lighting for safety in homes, parking lots, sidewalks, roadways and other areas. But, the majority of lighting is a total waste of energy and a disturbance of wildlife, because improperly designed lighting often shines skywards and extends far beyond the area that needs to be lit.
Learn more about light pollution and how you can reduce it in your home or business lighting fixtures at The International Dark Sky Association. You can also check out a stunning collection of light pollution photos by Jim Richardson at National Geographic. The photos have a dreamy quality and are often quite beautiful, but they illustrate just how much we’re illuminating the sky for no good reason.
Link [International Dark Sky Association]
Photo credit: Jim Richardson/National Geographic
Pilot Whales Brutally Slaughtered Annually in the Faroe Islands
September 8, 2008
Residents of the Faroe Islands, an autonomous province of Denmark, slaughter and eat pilot whales every year, as these photos graphically depict. The Faroese are descendents of Vikings, and pilot whales have been a central part of their diet for more than 1,000 years. They crowd these intelligent animals into a bay and kill them, cutting the dorsal area through to the spinal cord. In the process, their main arteries get cut. As you can see, the waters in the bay turn bright red from all the blood.
Ironically, this practice, called grindadráp, is diminishing the population of 5,000 islanders. Many of them get sick and die from high mercury levels in the whales. Mentally retarded children are reportedly being born at alarmingly high rates.
To be clear, the whales are not endangered and animal rights organizations have largely backed off due to the fact that this process is such an integral part of Faroese culture, and because the Faroese aren’t involved in commercial whaling. That doesn’t make the pictures any easier to look at, though.
PBS has a video about the mercury problem and this culture’s deeply held beliefs called ‘The Faroe Islands – Message from the Sea’, viewable here.
Link [PBS] + [Wikipedia]
An Artist’s Log of Three Years of Street Trash
August 13, 2008
From May 5th, 2002 to May 4th, 2005, artist Nico Van Hoorn took a daily 30-minute walk looking for the perfect piece of trash in the street. It could be paper, plastic or metal but it had to be smaller than 10×15cm and as flat as possible. The trash was scanned daily, and what results is a series of portraits of trash that really make you think, was this little item – whatever it was, whatever it was used for – worth littering the streets for?
Check out more of the photos at Trashlog.com
Link [TRASHLOG]
