Ephemeral things (from Greek εφήμερος – ephemeros, literally "lasting only one day"[1]) are transitory, existing only briefly. Typically the term is used to describe objects found in nature, although it can describe a wide range of things.
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An ephemeral waterbody is a wetland, spring, stream, river, pond or lake that only exists for a short period following precipitation or snowmelt. They are not the same as intermittent or seasonal waterbodies, which exist for longer periods, but not all year round.
Examples of ephemeral streams are the Luni river in Rajasthan, India, Ugab River in Southern Africa, and a number of small ephemeral watercourses that drain Talak in northern Niger. Other notable ephemeral rivers include the Todd River and Sandover River in Central Australia as well as the Son River, Batha River and the Trabancos River.
Any endorheic basin, or closed basin, that contains a playa or dry lake at its drainage lowpoint can become an ephemeral lake. Examples include Lake Carnegie in Western Australia, Lake Cowal in New South Wales, Mystic Lake in California, and Sevier Lake in Utah. Even the driest and lowest place in North America, Death Valley (more specifically Badwater Basin), became flooded with a short-lived ephemeral lake in the spring of 2005.[2]
There are also ephemeral islands such as Banua Wuhu and Home Reef. These islands appear when volcanic activity increases their height above sea level, but disappear over the course of several years due to wave erosion. Bassas da India, on the other hand, is a near-sea level island that appears only at low tide.
Many plants are adapted to an ephemeral lifestyle, in which they spend most of the year or longer as seeds before conditions are right for a brief period of growth and reproduction. The spring ephemeral plant mouse-ear cress is a well known example.
Animals can be ephemeral, with brine shrimp being an example. The placenta is considered an ephemeral organ present during gestation and pregnancy.
Ephemeral can also be used as an adjective to refer to a fast-deteriorating importance or temporary nature of an object to a person. Brands are notoriously ephemeral assets, magazine publishing was once much more ephemeral than it is today, as was television programming.
A number of art forms can be considered ephemeral because of their temporary nature. Early land art and all sand sculptures, ice sculptures and chalk drawings on footpaths are examples of ephemeral art. G. Augustine Lynas and Duthain Dealbh create ephemeral sculptures.
The transience of life has been a continued subject for artists of the fifteenth century to contemporary times. Prominent within fifteenth century northern European still life paintings the burning candle or partially peeled lemon symbolised the transience of time, and consequently of life. Manifest in the symbols of vanitas the ephemeral remained within the realms of picturesque depiction, the continued diversification of materials throughout the twentieth century however transformed subject into material form.
Ephemeral works of art embody a perpetual state of physical transformation, time very literally defines the truly ephemeral work of art. Ice, flowers, sand, chocolate, in this post-modern destruction of the revered art object traditionally non-art materials embody rather than represent transience. Perhaps most iconically Anya Gallaccio employs entropic process to slowly transform natural material such as the red gerberas found in works such as the 2003 Turner Prize shortlisted preserve “beauty”.
The ephemeral continues to be a subject fascinating artists. Last winter La Casa Encendida presented on&on arguably the most comprehensive and exciting exploration of ephemeral art to date. Bringing together 14 exceptional international artists curators Flora Fairbairn and Olivier Varenne transformed the heterotopia of the gallery into a site exploring the evolution, dissolution, fragility and decay of the ephemeral in art.
Often happiness is described as being ephemeral, as one does not find it to be a permanent state, within the scope of human lives. There are always varying shades of happiness and disappointment.
In computer networking technology, an ephemeral port is a TCP, UDP or SCTP port which is dynamically assigned to a client application for a short period of time (the duration of time the application is running). This is in contrast to the "well known" ports which are typically statically assigned to a specific application or service.
Other uses also include: