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Why are there circles of melted snow on this icy pond?

⁨307⁩ ⁨likes⁩

Submitted ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨josephos@lemmy.world⁩ to ⁨nostupidquestions@lemmy.world⁩

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/e1415555-878f-4c63-95da-d9ad01dcd1d8.jpeg

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Comments

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  • FaceDeer@kbin.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    There are species of seals who actively keep holes open in the ice to use as breathing holes, allowing them to hunt fish even in frozen-over bodies of water.

    They're all ocean-dwelling species in the arctic or antarctic oceans, so this isn't the answer to your specific question, but I just think they're neat.

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    • Lepsea@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Before reading the “so this isn’t the answer to your specific question, but I just think they’re neat.” My mind went:

      A seal? At this time of year? At this time of day? In this part of the country? Localized entirely within their pond?

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      • LetterboxPancake@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        Yes!

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  • lemmefixdat4u@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Gas bubbles from rotting vegetation are the likely cause in this instance. See this article for an explanation:

    Lake Ice - Gas Holes

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    • ace_garp@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Looks like the same thing, good explanation.

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  • ALERT@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    fish farts

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    • josephos@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Image

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    • thefartographer@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      I’ll get back to you with some readings

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    • e_mc2@feddit.nl ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      I snorted my coffee. Thanks.

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      • thefartographer@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        Huh… Like off a key or a line or something? Also… Why?

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  • Track_Shovel@slrpnk.net ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    I’m not a hydrologist, but I suspect it’s due to areas of upwelling warmer water. Alternatively, the ice could have formed, but these spots are where the surface was too unstable to permit that (wind?)

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    • rockSlayer@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Yep, this is it. The ice is thinner in those areas, allowing more heat to reach the surface

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    • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      That, or some very adventurous ice fishermen were out already. people who ice fish are a strange lot.

      (I wouldn’t trust the ice this early in the year with my worst enemy- mostly because they could probably break out on the way back up. shhhh)

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  • Tarquinn2049@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Ice doesn’t form with even thickness naturally, when it warms back up outside, the thinner parts melt faster, and it kind of snowballs due to currents created and stuff like that. So even if the thin areas didn’t start out that much thinner, they end up melting way faster anyway.

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  • boatsnhos931@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    GOT DAMN LOCH NESS MONSTA I TOLD YOU I AIN’T GOT NO TREE FIDDY

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  • CodexArcanum@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Aliums 👽

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    • arocketscientist5@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Onions?

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      • EveryMuffinIsNowEncrypted@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        Onion-based aliens.

        …they have layers.

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  • BigBlackCockroach@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    My best hyptothesis is that in the center of each of those disks a hole may have been or still is through which pond water is wicking upwards and melting the snow in a circular fashion before freezing and coming to a halt. Hence the almost perfect circular shape and the weird lighter color in the center … notice the crack in the center of the disk in the foreground?

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  • ace_garp@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Throws dart…

    .

    Geothermal vents, or radioactive rocks.

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    • NoSpotOfGround@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      The one time when “swamp gas” is the answer, and you miss it. For shame…

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  • TigrisMorte@kbin.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Where the fish peed.

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  • RizzRustbolt@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Fish ghosts.

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  • username_unavailable@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    That’s where decomposing bodies in barrels are releasing gas bubbles as the corpse decomposes. Both because the bubbles are warmer from decomposition and because they disturb the surface of the water, ice formation is disrupted in “warmer below freezing” temperatures.

    Source: I’m just winging it bro.

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  • Modern_medicine_isnt@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    most likely due to varying depth. More shallow will stay warmer I believe because the earth holds temperature longer.

    Source: I have a ground source heat pump, which is equivalent to saying I stayed at a holiday inn last night. But it might still be true.

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    • INHALE_VEGETABLES@aussie.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      HOTEL, MOTEL

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      • c0mbatbag3l@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        You can bring your girlfriends, and meet me at the hotel room.

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    • Rakonat@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Shallow water freezes first. Ice acts as an insulator so deep water will get cold but not freeze.

      This is likely caused by vegetation at the bottom rotting and the gas rising up till it collects in on area, making the ice thinner and thus higher.

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      • Modern_medicine_isnt@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        Not following why shallow water freezes first.

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  • Candelestine@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    My hypothesis:

    So, basic principles out of the way first, dark absorbs more sun, white reflects it. As the snow melts and reveals the darker colored water beneath, this will begin a runaway feedback loop that will slowly melt more and more ice. Assuming it’s not too cold out, anyway.

    Since this is actually a runaway feedback loop that is going to eventually melt the whole surface of this body of water, we just need to get it started, and everywhere it starts, it’ll spread from. All we need, is something that darkens the surface of the snow.

    In the case of that center circle, it’s hard to make out, but I think I see a stick jutting out in the exact center. A brown stick, no less.

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    • MonkRome@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Having been around melting ice a lot I think this is closer to the right answer. Also decomposing things give off heat. Any vegetation that is decomposing will accelerate ice melting.

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  • the_q@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Hot fish.

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    • LongbottomLeaf@lemmy.nz ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      -Rod Stewart and Tina Turner intensify-

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      • MrShankles@reddthat.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        Cod Stewart and Tuna Turner

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  • Prezhotnuts@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Some stormwater management ponds have aeration systems.

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  • cabillaud@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Swirls in the water?

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  • Hikermick@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Ice fishermen?

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    • thefartographer@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Fish Icerman

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      • BigBlackCockroach@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        Ice manerfish

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  • Pratai@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Air bubbles I think. Keeps the water moving.

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  • kSPvhmTOlwvMd7Y7E@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Now i want to know the answer 😫

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  • pomodoro_longbreak@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Bird? Snowball? Looks more “soggy” than melted, necessarily.

    It is a neat effect. Have you tried making your own melt circle?

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    • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      So, when people go ice fishing, they use an ice auger to drill through the ice. think of it as a 6" (or so) drill bit. for a variety of reasons, when you break through, water usually gets pulled up onto the surface (it’s common to pump the hand crank augers up and down, or with powered augers, well, usually you don’t stop as you break through.)

      if you look at the bit front and center, you can see cracks and the hole in the center of the wetspot

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    • SharkAttak@kbin.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Thought the same, maybe there were ducks hanging out earlier on.

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      • Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        Duck butts look warm, that’s probably it.

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  • HeartyBeast@kbin.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Just in case you are interested, here is a similar phenomenon - photographed on the moat of Leeds Castle in Kent, UK - back in Jan 2010

    Attachment: media.kbin.social ↗
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    • HeartyBeast@kbin.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      A close up

      Attachment: media.kbin.social ↗
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      • LongbottomLeaf@lemmy.nz ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        I’m not seeing anything in either comment.

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  • moshtradamus666@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    UFO landing spots

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    • Agent641@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Ok Daniel Jackson lets grt you back to bed.

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  • ryathal@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    If it’s used as part of waste water treatment these could be areas where water is released.

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