A traditional Icelandic sod house built into a hillside faces the wide expanse of Vatnajökull glacier. Vatnajökull was the site of a volcanic eruption in November 1996 that melted billions of a gallons of glacial ice and triggered a cataclysmic flood that lasted two days. No one was injured in the flood, but it destroyed a bridge and littered a floodplain with huge blocks of ice, some weighing more than 1,000 tons (1,016 metric tons).
(Text adapted from and photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Iceland抯 Trial by Fire,? May 1997, National Geographic magazine)
A bush in St. John’s wears an icy glaze during what Newfoundlanders call the “silver thaw.” The freezing rain that causes this condition can damage trees and power lines, but is a harbinger of the coming spring.
(Text adapted from and photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Newfoundland Trusts in the Sea,” January 1974, National Geographic magazine)
加拿大纽芬兰的 St. Johns：杂草上披上冰冷的亮光，当地人称之为“银色解冻”。导致这种情形的冻雨，可以破坏树木和输电线，但却是是春天的先兆。
A Hindu holy man rises from the waters where the Ganges and Yamuna rivers meet early on the morning of January 16 after bathing there as part of the Ardh Kumbh Mela, or Half Pitcher Festival.
The festival, India's largest religious gathering, lasts 45 days and commemorates a mythical battle between gods and demons over a pitcher of divine nectar. Several million Hindus take part in the ritual, which includes bathing in the river water to wash away sins.
This year thousands of holy men threatened to boycott the festival, saying the Ganges River is too polluted from human waste and factory discharge. According to the Associated Press, at least one devotee has threatened to commit ritual suicide if the government doesn't start cleaning the holy waters.
An ice crystal "rainbow" （冰晶彩虹）hangs in the air behind skier Thomas Lambert of Switzerland on January 12 during practice for the 2007 Chevrolet Freestyle International World Cup in Park City, Utah.
The faint halo, also called a sun dog （幻日）, isn't a real rainbow. By definition a rainbow is created only when sunlight is broken into its component colors by raindrops. Sun dogs are usually formed when light passes through flat, six-sided ice crystals high in Earth's atmosphere. (Related photo: "Rare 'Rainbow' Spotted Over Idaho" [June 19, 2006].)
But so-called diamond dust—free-floating ice crystals lower in the sky—can also create the visual treat.
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顶顶大腕卧底
