Extreme Weather
This year has been another record-breaker when it comes to extreme weather events. Along with late 2010, it was a La Nina year, in which cooler oceanic surface temperatures led to shifts in the jet stream and weather patterns. In the U.S., this normally causes wetter than normal conditions for…
No. 5: Missouri and Mississippi River Floods
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has had a busy year. It has been filled with tough choices when it comes to managing and diverting dangerous amounts of destructive floodwater. This year, levees were blown up and dam floodgates and spillways were opened. Missouri River: Nearly a year’s worth of…
No. 8: Lightning strikes Eiffel Tower
This amazing photo, taken from an apartment window in 2010, surfaced this year and won the Office du Tourisme de Paris competition. “I quickly grabbed my camera and put it on a tripod by the window,” said the 31-year-old photographer who caught the moment the Eiffel Tower appeared to be…
No. 2: Cyclops shark
This unbelievable (yet real) photo shows a one-eyed albino shark that was found off the coast of Isla Cerralvo near La Paz, Mexico, in June 2011. The image went viral after being posted on the blog of a local sportfishing company, which was forced to defend the photo after skeptics…
No. 10: Whale nearly swallows diver
This jaw-dropping image shows a diver almost being swallowed by a whale shark during a feeding frenzy (thankfully, only plankton was on the menu). The photo was taken in Isla Mujeres, Mexico, where more than 600 of the 40-foot creatures converged to feed on tuna spawn. (Photo by Mauricio Handler)
No. 9: President Obama waves
President Obama waved himself into ridicule at the Open Government Partnership Event at the United Nations on September 20, 2011, in New York. During a group photograph of several world leaders, President Obama offered a solitary wave that accidentally covered the face of the president of Mongolia. Next time, just…
No. 7: Pepper spray at UC Davis
Public outrage emerged when police officers at University of California, Davis, used pepper spray to control Occupy UC Davis protesters who were seated in the school’s quad on November 18, 2011. Video and photos of the controversial incident were quickly beamed around the Internet. In a comedic twist on a…
No. 6: Bubble lake
Landscape photographer Emmanuel Coupe received Editor’s Choice honors at the National Geographic Traveler photo contest for this picture of a frozen lake in Canada. (Photo by Emmanuel Coupe)
No. 3: Vancouver riot kiss
A young couple chose to make love, not war, as riot police struggled to control the violence that erupted after the Vancouver Canucks lost game seven of the Stanley Cup Finals on June 15, 2011. When the image went viral on the Web, the kissing couple was identified as Scott…
No. 1: Philippines’ giant crocodile
The Mayor of Agusan del Sur Province in Philippines poses with a huge crocodile that was captured by residents and crocodile farm staff on Sunday, September 4, 2011. It took a three-week hunt by dozens of villagers and experts to ensnare the 21-foot male creature, one of the largest crocs…