This video is alarming and intriguing to say the least. The explanation is just enough to calm your nerves.
A video making the rounds on the internet shows a forest in Sacre-Coeur, Quebec. At first, you see what appears to be the earth ‘breathing’ up and down like a chest filling with air and exhaling.
Click on the video to watch, then scroll down for the explanation.
The ground looks like it’s breathing in this Quebec forest. pic.twitter.com/AeETAYJOdN
— Daniel Holland (@DannyDutch) October 20, 2018
IFL science decided to get to the bottom of it. Take a look at the video again and notice the strong winds. It turns out, those winds are moving the trees just enough to loosen up the ground beneath it, but not enough to knock over the trees… yet.
According to IFL Science’s research:
“During a rain and windstorm event the ground becomes saturated, ‘loosening’ the soil’s cohesion with the roots as the wind is blowing on a tree’s crown,” certified arborist Mark Vanderwouw told The Weather Network.
“The wind is trying to ‘push’ the trees over, and as the force is transferred to the roots, the ground begins to ‘heave’. If the winds were strong enough and lasted long enough more roots would start to break and eventually some of the trees would topple.”
Nature is cool, and scary.