The giant waves covered in a brilliant blue sheen are actually giant icicles, according to rumor-busting website Snopes.com. “The beautiful smoothly polished surfaces are again the result of melting,” it notes. “The transparent ice … has been created in a glacier or ice cap by the slow annealing of ice as it is buried under each year’s successive accumulation of snow.” Now Travouillen works on the Thirty Meter Telescope project in Hawaii, a giant telescope planned to open in 2021. (Photo by Tony Travouillon)
These brilliant blue ice look like frozen huge waves.
They were captured by French astrophysicist (and part-time photographer) Tony Travouillon as he travelled across Antarctica.
(Please click the photos for bigger images.)
Travouillen no longer spends his days in the frosty climates. Nowadays, he can be found in the much warmer Hawaiian Islands, where he works on the Thirty Meter Telescope project, a giant telescope planned to open in 2021. (Photo by Tony Travouillon)
Don’t expect to see surfboards – or snowboards – on these majestic frozen outcroppings near the Dumont D’Urville research station in Antarctica. (Photo by Tony Travouillon)
Although the waves appear as if they’ve been instantly frozen as they broke from the ocean surface, they’re actually a natural phenomenon of blue ice, according to a report by the Daily Mail. As outer layers of ice melt during the summer months, new layers of ice compress to form the top of the waves. (Photo by Tony Travouillon)
“I walked to these blue icebergs with a group made up of transitioning scientists like me and winter-overs [people who winter in the area] who knew of the location of these beauties,” Travoullion says. “It was just one of the many amazing sights that you can find on the coast of Antarctica.” (Photo by Tony Travouillon)
The blue coloring of the ice comes from tiny bubbles in the ice, which diffuse the red light in color spectrum, and leave only blue light to reflect to the human eye. (Photo by Tony Travouillon)
Tourists look at the Perito Moreno glacier after the rupture of a massive ice wall near the city of El Calafate in the Patagonian province of Santa Cruz, southern Argentina, March 4, 2012. The glacier, a massive tongue of ice in the Santa Cruz province that covers 250 square kilometres (97 square miles), advances yearly into a lake, known as Lago Argentino. As Perito Moreno moves forward, it cuts off a river feeding the lake. Water builds up pressure and slowly undermines the ice, forming a tunnel until ice comes tumbling down. The phenomenon repeats itself at irregular intervals, with the last major ice falls occurring in 2008. REUTERS/Andres Arce
How I wish I can be there 🙂
Tourists wait to see the rupture of the leading edge of the Perito Moreno glacier near the city of El Calafate in the Patagonian province of Santa Cruz, southern Argentina, March 2, 2012. REUTERS/Andres ArceThe Perito Moreno glacier is seen after the rupture of a massive ice wall near the city of El Calafate in the Patagonian province of Santa Cruz, southern Argentina, March 4, 2012. REUTERS/Andres Arce The Perito Moreno glacier is seen after the rupture of a massive ice wall near the city of El Calafate in the Patagonian province of Santa Cruz, southern Argentina, March 4, 2012. REUTERS/Andres Arce
So far, 75 people were killed and 300 are still missing.
Lots of people are still trapped inside the damaged buildings.
Some areas are unsafe because there are lots of unstable buildings.
Police warned that the 26-story Hotel Grand Chancellor may collapse.
If that happens, it may cause disaster to the unstable buildings around it.
On Thursday, more foreign rescuers will be helping to dig out the trapped victims.
I am very sad and sorry for the earthquake victims and their families.
I hope that there will be better news tomorrow.
The quake caused ice to break from New Zealand’s biggest glacier and formed huge icebergs in the Tasman Lake.
Fallen debris lies on mangled cars in a street in Christchurch. (AFP/Logan Mcmillan) Smoke rises from the collapsed CTV building, that housed a TV broadcaster and an English language school, following Tuesday's earthquake in Christchurch February 23, 2011. REUTERS/Tim Wimborne An area is cordoned off after the front wall of a row of shops is destroyed following Tuesday's earthquake in the southern New Zealand city of Christchurch February 23, 2011. REUTERS/Tim Wimborne
Search crew members look through the rubble of the CTV building which was devastated by a 6.3 magnitude earthquake in central Christchurch February 23, 2011. New Zealand declared a national state of emergency to cope with the effects of the devastating earthquake.REUTERS/Simon Baker
Glacier Express derailed in Fiesch, Switzerland, Friday 23, July 2010. (REUTERS/Police Valais/Handout0)
Glacier Express train accident in Fiesch, Switzerland. Friday July 23, 2010. (REUTERS/Police Valais/Handout)
A senior fire fighter looking at a damaged carriage of a Glacier Express passenger train at the accident site, Friday July 23,2010. (AP Photo/Keystone/Jean-Christophe Bott)Rescue workers and paramedics load an injured person on board of a rescue helicopter after a train accident in Fiesch, Switzerland, Friday, July 23, 2010. (AP Photo/Keystone/Jean-Christophe Bott)Rescuers give an interview in front of damaged carriages of a Glacier Express passenger train at the accident site in Fiesch, Switzerland, Friday, July 23, 2010. (AP Photo/Keystone/Jean-Christophe Bott)A fire fighter is looking at a damaged carriage of a Glacier Express passenger train at the accident site in Fiesch, Switzerland, Friday, July 23, 2010. (AP Photo/Keystone/Jean-Christophe Bott)
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