Underwater forests Importance with David Attenborough

 I never know this name” sea grass” earlier. just some months ago when i started watching wild life and bio-diversity on television and there watch a show , that were focused on marine life and underwater bio-diversity. 

   But just a day ago while i watch a series of sir david attenborough , where they are showing about sea grass or underwater travel of seeds of various plants and they mention about loss of this seagrass . This seagrass is verge of extinction too. 

Seagrasses are important marine ecosystems situated throughout the world’s coastlines. They are facing declines around the world due to global and local threats such as rising ocean temperatures, coastal development and pollution from sewage outfalls and agriculture. 

ALTHOUGH NOT AS WELL-KNOWN as tropical forests or coral reefs, seagrass meadows are among the most productive and important ecosystems in the world. Found globally in shallow salty and brackish waters, seagrasses are marine flowering plants that support thousands of key species and essential ecosystem functions.

seagrasses are marine flowering plants

Sometimes referred to as the “lungs of the sea”, seagrasses photosynthesize to create energy and grow, absorbing carbon from the water and generating oxygen in the process. In addition to storing carbon in their leaves and roots, seagrasses also trap decaying organic matter and silt, creating carbon rich sediments – making them very effective carbon sinks. It has been estimated that one acre of seagrass sequesters 74 pounds of carbon per year (83 grams per sq meter per year) – the same amount emitted by a car traveling 3,860 miles (6,212 km). Their role in mitigating the effects of human-induced climate change, therefore, is significant.

Seagrass beds are vital to an immense diversity of marine life – from fish to crustaceans, turtles to dugongs, sea cucumbers to sea urchins. Some of these species are permanent residents, while others are only temporary visitors, but each are reliant on seagrass either for food, shelter, breeding, nursery areas, or habitat corridors between other ecosystems such as reefs and mangroves.

seagrasses are in trouble

Millions of people’s livelihoods and well-being are directly reliant on seagrass – through fisheries, marine tourism, and coastal protection from storms. Yet sadly, the all too familiar tale – seagrasses are in trouble. Over a quarter of global seagrass has been lost in the past century. Threats include destructive fishing practices such as drag-nets, water pollution from industry, sewage, fertilizers and domestic waste, habitat destruction from coastal development, and dredging and ecosystem imbalance caused by overfishing. Rising sea water temperatures also influence seagrass growth and disease susceptibility, although research shows they are more resilient to warming waters than other marine ecosystems. Fisheries in many areas will become more dependent on seagrass as the impacts of climate change intensify.

Underwater forests Importance with David Attenborough

• Human activity contributes to the equivalent of a soccer field of seagrasses being destroyed every 30 minutes around the world, according to the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP).
• Seagrasses are a vital part of ocean ecosystems and can store twice as much C02 as forests.
• Research has been carried out on these plants to further understand the problem and their potential.
• Hundreds of miles from the nearest shore, ribbon-like fronds flutter in the ocean currents sweeping across an underwater mountain plateau the size of Switzerland.

A remote-powered camera glides through the sunlit, turquoise waters of this corner of the western Indian Ocean, capturing rare footage of what scientists believe is the world’s largest seagrass meadow.

Human activity is helping destroy the equivalent of a soccer field of these seagrasses every 30 minutes around the world, according to the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP). And scientists are now racing to take stock of what remains.

“There are a lot of unknowns — even things as simple as how much seagrass we have,” said Oxford University earth observation scientist Gwilym Rowlands, who is helping the Seychelles government map the island nation’s seagrass and estimate how much carbon it stores.

“If you look at the map data for seagrass, there are huge holes” in what we know.

Seagrasses play a large role in regulating ocean environments, storing more than twice as much carbon from planet-warming carbon dioxide (CO2) per square mile as forests do on land, according to a 2012 study in the journal Nature Geoscience.

Countries that hope to earn credit toward bringing down their CO2 emissions could tally their seagrasses and the carbon they store, a first step toward accrediting carbon offsets for eventual trading on an open market.

The grasses also curb the acidity of surrounding waters — an especially important function as the ocean absorbs more CO2 from the atmosphere and becomes more acidic.

But seagrasses provide some buffer from acidification, which can damage animals’ shells and disrupt fish behaviors. In one study published March 31 in the journal Global Change Biology, scientists at the University of California, Davis, found that seagrasses dotted along the California coast could reduce local acidity by up to 30% for extended periods.

The plants also help clean polluted water, support fisheries, protect coasts from erosion, and trap micro-plastics, said the study’s lead author Aurora Ricart.

“What is even cooler is that these habitats are present everywhere,” she said.

Seagrass as climate ally

While most seagrasses fringe coastlines around the world, the shallowness of Saya de Malha allows sunlight to filter to the seabed, creating an aquatic prairie in the Indian Ocean that provides shelter, nurseries and feeding grounds for thousands of marine species.

The bank’s isolation has helped protect it from coastal threats, including pollution and dredging. But even such remote stretches of international waters face increasing incursions from shipping and industrial fishing.

In March, scientists from institutions including Britain’s Exeter University travelled with Greenpeace on an expedition to collect some of the first field data on the area’s wildlife, including its little-studied beds of seagrass.

With the boat bobbing for days above the plateau, the researchers gathered bits of grass floating in the water, tweezering them into bottles for analysis back on shore.

Data on seagrass meadows are patchy, but research so far estimates the grasses cover over 300,000 square km (115,000 square miles), distributed across all continents apart from Antarctica, according to UNEP. That would be an area the size of Italy.

It is not yet known how much carbon is locked into Saya de Malha, but globally the tangled roots of seagrasses are estimated to trap over 10% of the carbon buried in ocean sediment per year.

Saya de Malha

“This has massive implications for the (world’s) climate change mitigation efforts,” said Dimos Traganos, lead scientist on a German Aerospace Center project developing software to improve seagrass tracking using satellite imagery and other data. That effort has been helped by recent advances in cloud computing and data storage, he said. “We are in such an exciting period.”

Seagrass meadows are believed to be retreating around 7% per year globally, according to the most recent seagrass census published in a 2009 study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. It notes the estimate was based on incomplete data available at the time.

The more closely studied areas illustrate the harm human activity can cause. Pollution from mining and damage by fisheries may have helped to eliminate 92% of mainland Britain’s seagrasses in over a century, according to a March 4 study in the journal Frontiers in Plant Science.

If still intact, these could have supported around 400 million fish and stored up to 11.5 million tonnes of carbon — equivalent to 3% of Britain’s CO2 emissions in 2017, the study said.

Efforts have been made to reduce seagrass loss through reducing local and regional stressors, and through active restoration. Seagrass restoration is a rapidly maturing discipline, but improved restoration practices are needed to enhance the success of future programs. 

Major gaps in knowledge remain, however, prior research efforts have provided valuable insights into factors influencing the outcomes of restoration and there are now several examples of successful large-scale restoration programs. 

A variety of tools and techniques have recently been developed that will improve the efficiency, cost effectiveness, and scalability of restoration programs. This review describes several restoration successes in Australia and New Zealand, with a focus on emerging techniques for restoration, key considerations for future programs, and highlights the benefits of increased collaboration, Traditional Owner (First Nation) and stakeholder engagement.

 Combined, these lessons and emerging approaches show that seagrass restoration is possible, and efforts should be directed at upscaling seagrass restoration into the future. This is critical for the future conservation of this important ecosystem and the ecological and coastal communities they support.

Extinction : The Fact on BBC Earth

 Day be day my habbit of watching wild animal and biodiversity increased , and i spent my every free time with this kind specific channels , which are only focused to provide details about this beautiful creatures. 

Channels like bbc earth, national geographic, wild and discovery entertain you in new way where you are getting knowledge for your every second. So no doubt this is good way to utilize your time in productive way.

Because mom says me that, ” knowledge never wasted, and every single knowledgeable thing become useful at some stage of your life”. And i personally believe it  .

Yesterday i have watched a series on “BBC Earth” that is focused on extinction of animal and biodiversity, and it really changed my opinion perspective towards life and specially towards human beings. 

Extinction: The Facts is a 2020 documentary film by the natural historian David Attenborough which aired on the BBC. It depicts the continuing sixth mass extinction, caused by humans, and the consequences of biodiversity loss and climate change.

facts we learned by watching Extinction: The Facts, presented by Sir David Attenborough

I never seen this person earlier , but i personally become fan of him, or i would like to mention here there i definitely want to join there team, team which specifically focused that how we can make this earth safer and better place for each and everyone. Not only for future human generation but for our wild life too. 

This weekend  show become my favorite and i want everyone to pay attention  on this must and priority show , with what has been heralded as a landmark . Extinction: The Facts presented by Sir David Attenborough, did not mince its words, offering a very real, often terrifying look at the state of our planet today.

As its name suggests, the hour-long film addressed the questions of why one million out of the eight million species on earth are now threatened with extinction (spoiler: it’s because of the actions of one species – humans); and what that means for the planet today and in the future.

Having watched the program , I encourage you to do the same . No doubt the film will eventually be available overseas, although I have not been able to confirm that as yet. So in the meantime, if you’d like to get the low-down on what has been called a ‘surprisingly radical‘ documentary, or if you just like spoilers, we’ve curated some of the most eye-opening facts and quotes from the program right here.

And if the realities of the damage already done to the biodiversity of the planet makes you want to take action, we’ve included some suggestions on the simple steps we can all take to help protect the planet and the species on it, at the end of the article.

1. This is not a future crisis. It’s happening now.

Species of plants and animals are already going extinct, because of what humans are doing to the planet. Since 1500, 570 plant species and 700 animal species have gone extinct. Now, one million species out of eight million species on earth are threatened with extinction. The biggest issue is the rate of extinction. While the disappearance of species from Earth is ongoing and rates of extinction have varied over time; historically, extinction has happened over millions of years, but now, it’s happening over tens of years. In fact, it’s happening 100x faster than the natural evolutionary rate, and it’s accelerating.

2. Extinction is happening everywhere. And to everything. And it has a huge ripple effect.

From the Amazon, to Africa, to the Arctic, we are losing species of insects, mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and more. And the consequences of these losses has a massive ripple effect. When you look at biodiversity, ecosystems, food chains – everything is interconnected. When you remove or damage one part of that well-oiled machine, the rest of it malfunctions. When it comes to the biodiversity machine, all parts, from the tiniest ant, to the tallest tree, to the largest whale, to the tallest branch, they are all necessary for it – and the planet, and us humans – to survive.

For example, at least 10% of insect species are at risk of extinction. The ripple effect from that loss will impact on the food chain for hundreds of thousands of other species that rely on insects to survive, as well as the loss of pollinators to ensure crops can grow. A 10% loss of insect species will effect three quarters of the world’s food crops.

Under the ground, 30% of lands globally have been degraded, which means a loss of diversity in the soil – the consequences of while could be catastrophic, as it means food production is already being impacted.

25% of our plant species are at risk of extinction. That impacts the air we breathe. the level of co2 in the air, how clean our water is. Trees are vital to intercept rainfall and hold the ground together with their roots. Where we lose trees, we gain landslides.

3. There are eight million species on planet earth, but only one species is responsible for the extinction of others: humans.

There are many ways we humans royally mess up our own home:

• Poaching. Any animal, it seems, can be bought for the right price. From rhinos, to pangolins, they are purchased as status symbols or for fantasy medical purposes.
• Over-fishing. At any one time, 100,000 trawlers are operating in our seas. The seas have been decimated of fish. Losing the smaller species of fish, like cod, has a ripple effect to the larger fish and sea animals that prey on them and depend on them for survival.
• Consumerism. Although population growth does have some impact on biodiversity, it is the demand for consumption that has a greater effect on the planet. The world’s developing countries have a higher population growth; but it is the developed countries, which have a lower population growth, but a higher demand for consumption, that are putting a strain on nature’s resources. Many of the products we use are produced in an unsustainable way and in places that don’t have the same environmental laws and regulations that a country such as the UK has.
• Climate Change.  This will be the biggest threat faced by species. The Paris Agreement states that all governments should try and limit climate change to no more than 2’C. All calculations show we’re on track for a 3-4 degree rise in temperatures. Increasing temperatures force some species to move to cooler locations. Eventually, they run out of places to go.
• Destruction of habitats. 90% of the wetlands around the world have already been lost. 75% of land that is not covered by ice has already been converted. Mostly to feed one species – humans, and often humans from the other side of the world to where the clearance has happened. We are unwittingly supermarket-shopping our way into disaster, with cheap food and access year-round to a variety of food (rather than seasonal, locally grown produce). Research shows the main drivers of biodiversity loss are soy (the majority of which goes into animal feed, particularly chicken feed), cocoa, coffee, palm oil and beef. Livestock accounts for 60% of the total mammals on earth, humans 36% and wild animals just 4%.
• Humans are behind every single pandemic, so stop blaming the bats. It is human impact on the environment that drives emerging diseases. Not just wildlife trade and animal markets – which are an ideal environment for viruses to spread, due to the density of highly-stressed animals in proximity to people (when stressed, animals shed viruses at a higher rate); but also because of our daily intrusion into wildlife habitat. Forests have thousands of viruses that we haven’t come into contact with yet. Deforestation and construction that encroaches into those forests exposes humans to those viruses. And before you know it, we’re in another pandemic. In fact, according to the documentary, it is estimated that there will be five new emerging diseases affecting people every year.

Ok, I’m angry, sad, terrified and feeling helpless. Is there anything I/we can do to help save the planet and prevent species extinction?

Extinction: The Facts gives examples of where change has happened in the past, with positive outcomes: like the replacement of CFCs in aerosols and refrigerators, with an alternative that didn’t create a hole in the ozone layer in 1996; or how governments in three East African countries collaborated with conservation organizations and local communities to save the mountain gorilla, which only a few decades ago was on the brink of extinction.

The documentary identified a number of changes that need to be made, and we have added to those the actions individuals can take towards each one below.

1. Reset the way we run our economies. We’re coming out of a global pandemic and into a global recession. But research has shown that investment in projects that are good for the environment, can also provide a strong way out of the depression with quick, labor-intensive actions that have powerful and positive economic outcomes.

BBC Earth Series on Coral reef

 Last day in evening when i was too tired with continue work on system, i thought to have break with something different and that’s with watching animal activity , their life style. So i switch on the tv and my eyes stopped on BBC earth channel . That time it was showing scene of underwater , but it was not fish but some colorful things, may be i can call them plants or rocks. I was not aware that time, but i stayed there because everything was so different .

But than finally when narrator pronounce plant name , that was  CORAL REEF

Im not too much fan of plants and that too of underwater type, but as it was something different so i was unable to keep myself away. 

A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups.

Coral belongs to the class Anthozoa in the animal phylum Cnidaria, which includes sea anemones and jellyfish. Unlike sea anemones, corals secrete hard carbonate exoskeletons that support and protect the coral. Most reefs grow best in warm, shallow, clear, sunny and agitated water. Coral reefs first appeared 485 million years ago, at the dawn of the Early Ordovician, displacing the microbial and sponge reefs of the Cambrian.

Sometimes called rainforests of the sea, shallow coral reefs form some of Earth’s most diverse ecosystems. They occupy less than 0.1% of the world’s ocean area, about half the area of France, yet they provide a home for at least 25% of all marine species, including fish, mollusks, worms, crustaceans, echinoderms, sponges, tunicates and other cnidarians. Coral reefs flourish in ocean waters that provide few nutrients. They are most commonly found at shallow depths in tropical waters, but deep water and cold water coral reefs exist on smaller scales in other areas.

The Solomon Island’s truly unique culture and slow-paced way of life will leave you surprised and delighted. Not yet a major travel destination in the minds of many, this up and coming bucket list country offers a fabulous mix of beach, boat and island life, as well as rainforest beauty.

Solomon Islands is a sovereign country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and northwest of Vanuatu. It has a land area of 28,400 square kilometres (11,000 sq mi), and a population of 652,858. Its capital, Honiara, is located on the largest island, Guadalcanal. The country takes its name from the Solomon Islands archipelago, which is a collection of Melanesian islands that also includes the North Solomon Islands (a part of Papua New Guinea), but excludes outlying islands, such as the Santa Cruz Islands and Rennell and Bellona.

Formation of Coral Reef

Most coral reefs were formed after the Last Glacial Period when melting ice caused sea level to rise and flood continental shelves. Most coral reefs are less than 10,000 years old. As communities established themselves, the reefs grew upwards, pacing rising sea levels. Reefs that rose too slowly could become drowned, without sufficient light. Coral reefs are found in the deep sea away from continental shelves, around oceanic islands and atolls. The majority of these islands are volcanic in origin. Others have tectonic origins where plate movements lifted the deep ocean floor.

In The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs, Charles Darwin set out his theory of the formation of atoll reefs, an idea he conceived during the voyage of the Beagle. He theorized that uplift and subsidence of Earth’s crust under the oceans formed the atolls. Darwin set out a sequence of three stages in atoll formation. A fringing reef forms around an extinct volcanic island as the island and ocean floor subside. As the subsidence continues, the fringing reef becomes a barrier reef and ultimately an atoll reef.

Material

As the name implies, coral reefs are made up of coral skeletons from mostly intact coral colonies. As other chemical elements present in corals become incorporated into the calcium carbonate deposits, aragonite is formed. However, shell fragments and the remains of coralline algae such as the green-segmented genus Halimeda can add to the reef’s ability to withstand damage from storms and other threats. Such mixtures are visible in structures such as Eniwetok Atoll.

Types

Since Darwin’s identification of the three classical reef formations – the fringing reef around a volcanic island becoming a barrier reef and then an atoll– scientists have identified further reef types. While some sources find only three, Thomas and Goudie list four “principal large-scale coral reef types” – the fringing reef, barrier reef, atoll and table reef – while Spalding et al. list five “main types” – the fringing reef, barrier reef, atoll, “bank or platform reef” and patch reef.

Fringing reef

A fringing reef, also called a shore reef, is directly attached to a shore, or borders it with an intervening narrow, shallow channel or lagoon. It is the most common reef type. Fringing reefs follow coastlines and can extend for many kilometers. They are usually less than 100 meters wide, but some are hundreds of meters wide.

     Fringing reefs are initially formed on the shore at the low water level and expand seawards as they grow in size. The final width depends on where the sea bed begins to drop steeply. The surface of the fringe reef generally remains at the same height: just below the waterline. In older fringing reefs, whose outer regions pushed far out into the sea, the inner part is deepened by erosion and eventually forms a lagoon. Fringing reef lagoons can become over 100 meters wide and several meters deep. Like the fringing reef itself, they run parallel to the coast. The fringing reefs of the Red Sea are “some of the best developed in the world” and occur along all its shores except off sandy bays.

Barrier reef

Barrier reefs are separated from a mainland or island shore by a deep channel or lagoon. They resemble the later stages of a fringing reef with its lagoon but differ from the latter mainly in size and origin. Their lagoons can be several kilometres wide and 30 to 70 metres deep. Above all, the offshore outer reef edge formed in open water rather than next to a shoreline. Like an atoll, it is thought that these reefs are formed either as the seabed lowered or sea level rose. Formation takes considerably longer than for a fringing reef, thus barrier reefs are much rarer.

Australian Great Barrier Reef

The best known and largest example of a barrier reef is the Australian Great Barrier Reef. Other major examples are the Belize Barrier Reef and the New Caledonian Barrier Reef. Barrier reefs are also found on the coasts of Providencia, Mayotte, the Gambier Islands, on the southeast coast of Kalimantan, on parts of the coast of Sulawesi, southeastern New Guinea and the south coast of the Louisiade Archipelago.

Platform reef

Platform reefs, variously called bank or table reefs, can form on the continental shelf, as well as in the open ocean, in fact anywhere where the seabed rises close enough to the surface of the ocean to enable the growth of zooxanthemic, reef-forming corals. Platform reefs are found in the southern Great Barrier Reef, the Swain and Capricorn Group on the continental shelf, about 100–200 km from the coast. Some platform reefs of the northern Mascarenes are several thousand kilometres from the mainland. Unlike fringing and barrier reefs which extend only seaward, platform reefs grow in all directions. They are variable in size, ranging from a few hundred metres to many kilometres across. Their usual shape is oval to elongated. Parts of these reefs can reach the surface and form sandbanks and small islands around which may form fringing reefs. A lagoon may form In the middle of a platform reef.

Platform reefs can be found within atolls. There they are called patch reefs and may reach only a few dozen metres in diameter. Where platform reefs form on an elongated structure, e. g. an old, eroded barrier reef, they can form a linear arrangement. This is the case, for example, on the east coast of the Red Sea near Jeddah. In old platform reefs, the inner part can be so heavily eroded that it forms a pseudo-atoll. These can be distinguished from real atolls only by detailed investigation, possibly including core drilling. Some platform reefs of the Laccadives are U-shaped, due to wind and water flow.

                                                                                    Atoll

Formation of an atoll according to Charles Darwin

Atolls or atoll reefs are a more or less circular or continuous barrier reef that extends all the way around a lagoon without a central island. They are usually formed from fringing reefs around volcanic islands. Over time, the island erodes away and sinks below sea level. Atolls may also be formed by the sinking of the seabed or rising of the sea level. A ring of reefs results, which enclose a lagoon. Atolls are numerous in the South Pacific, where they usually occur in mid-ocean, for example, in the Caroline Islands, the Cook Islands, French Polynesia, the Marshall Islands and Micronesia.

Maldives Atolls

Atolls are found in the Indian Ocean, for example, in the Maldives, the Chagos Islands, the Seychelles and around Cocos Island. The entire Maldives consist of 26 atolls.

Other reef types or variants

Apron reef – short reef resembling a fringing reef, but more sloped; extending out and downward from a point or peninsular shore. The initial stage of a fringing reef.

Bank reef – isolated, flat-topped reef larger than a patch reef and usually on mid-shelf regions and linear or semi-circular in shape; a type of platform reef.

Patch reef – common, isolated, comparatively small reef outcrop, usually within a lagoon or embayment, often circular and surrounded by sand or seagrass. Can be considered as a type of platform reef or as features of fringing reefs, atolls and barrier reefs. The patches may be surrounded by a ring of reduced seagrass cover referred to as a grazing halo.

Ribbon reef – long, narrow, possibly winding reef, usually associated with an atoll lagoon. Also called a shelf-edge reef or sill reef.

Habili – reef specific to the Red Sea; does not reach near enough to the surface to cause visible surf; may be a hazard to ships (from the Arabic for “unborn”)

Microatoll – community of species of corals; vertical growth limited by average tidal height; growth morphologies offer a low-resolution record of patterns of sea level change; fossilized remains can be dated using radioactive carbon dating and have been used to reconstruct Holocene sea levels

Cays – small, low-elevation, sandy islands formed on the surface of coral reefs from eroded material that piles up, forming an area above sea level; can be stabilized by plants to become habitable; occur in tropical environments throughout the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans (including the Caribbean and on the Great Barrier Reef and Belize Barrier Reef), where they provide habitable and agricultural land

Seamount or guyot – formed when a coral reef on a volcanic island subsides; tops of seamounts are rounded and guyots are flat; flat tops of guyots, or table mounts, are due to erosion by waves, winds, and atmospheric processes

Aurora: Dancing lights

 Its Sunday morning and im just having coffee while watching outside from my window. I can see some glittering lights on road which is refraction images creating by kids playing outside with glass toys. And i come up with ideas to search about proper details regarding aurora lights, the light show by nature in Antarctica zones.

     Some day ago i have watched series on television , i think on BBC earth some show which talks about some magnetic field behind that lights at pole of earth. Even that particular time , i get amazed by that information, but last some days i wont get that much time to search for properly. But now as its Sunday , and specially kids activity remind me to clear my all question. 

Antarctica and it is a top of the world, literally. The vast expanse of ice, the chilling and biting cold, and the prolonged night that spills into days and then into months, gives a surreal feeling of being in a place that is ‘out of this world’. The dancing lights further add to this mystique. The ‘painted curtains’ furling in the jaded polar nights add a dash of aura that surreptitiously brings one close to divinity.

Aurorais a natural display of different colored lights that brighten up the polar skies. Aurorae are mostly confined to Polar Regions. The northern (Arctic) aurora is called ‘Aurora Borealis’ or ‘’northern lights’’. The southern or Antarctic is called ‘Aurora Australis’ or ‘dawn of the south’. These lights are usually seen above the magnetic poles of the northern and southern hemisphere.

Aurora Borealis

Aurora Australis

Aurora displays can be seen in many colors, although pale green and pink are the most common. Shades of red, yellow, green, blue, and violet are sparsely seen. The lights appear in many forms like patches or scattered clouds of light, streamers, arcs, rippling curtains or shooting rays that light up the sky with a strange glow.

Auroras are generated when the Earth’s magnetosphere is adequately disturbed by the solar wind. The solar wind is a stream of charged particles released from the upper atmosphere of the Sun. In normal circumstances, the Earth’s magnetic field blocks most of the solar wind. But when there is high solar activity, the relatively weak magnetosphere in the Polar Regions is not able to ward off the strengthened solar wind. At high-latitude areas, especially the Polar Regions, the magnetic field is vertical, which can provide easy access for these particles to enter Earth’s atmosphere to interact with various constituents present in the atmosphere. During this interaction there is transfer of energy from the solar wind to the atmosphere, which heatsup, and is excited. The excess energy is released to the atmosphere which is seen in the form of moving or dancing lights.

The auroras are thus an outcome of collision between electrically charged particles from the sun that enter the Earth’s atmosphere and the gaseous particles in the Earth’s atmosphere. The type of gaseous particles present in the Earth’s atmosphere determine the color of the aurora.

The auroras can only be seen at night because their light is not as strong as the day light. It can be seen from long distances, as they stretch in the sky for hundreds of kilometers. The phenomenon of aurora display has also been observed on other planets that have a magnetic field, such as Jupiter, Saturn and Mars.

During that time when I was  watching that specific show dedicated to Antarctica , and to the aurora light . I couldn’t turned of my eyes from that beautiful  moment .Because those lights are just like you are watching a light show in outdoor. The comparison is not so good, i know , but what i can do because more than lantern festival i never watched anything good like this.  

Dancing auroras spread over the sky in different hues and colors. Within no time the entire white ice turns into green. Sometimes these auroras are so intensely bright green in color that the entire environment around turns green.

If it can be this level interesting and beautiful on television, than i cant guess how good it would look in real or with bare eyes. I have wish that one day it would be possible for me to watch this Aurora light show. Till than i must say thanks to channel that they showed us this level interesting knowledgeable things.