Check out this video caught of a rare amazing natural disk ice maker in North Dakota, Sheyenne River, experts give explanation for this weird phenomenon!
Natural Disk Ice Maker Video
A bizarre spinning circular ice disk has amazed scientists since appearing on a North Dakota lake last week.
The perfectly round circle of ice – a product of record high air pressure this month – is an entirely natural but very rare phenomenon.
It was spotted in the Sheyenne River in North Dakota by George Loegering, who estimated the circle to be around 55ft in diameter.
The 73-year-old said he couldn’t believe his eyes when he first spotted the disk.
He said: ‘At first I thought, no way! It was surreal. You looked at it and you thought, how did it do that?’
He calculated the disk’s diameter to be about 55 feet, took photos and videos of it and then turned to the Internet for more information about what he, his brother-in-law and nephew had seen.
Experts say a combination of cold, dense air last weekend and an eddy in the river likely caused the disk.
Allen Schlag, a National Weather Service hydrologist in Bismarck, said: ‘It’s actually quite beautiful.
‘It’s not a continuous sheet of ice,’ Schlag said. ‘If you were to throw a grapefruit-size rock on it, it would go through. It’s not a solid piece of ice — it’s a collection of ice cubes.’
Loegering said the spinning disk had frozen up but was still visible in the river.
‘I’m not sure how long it was there (spinning),’ he said. ‘It had to be quite a long time. If you look at the picture, you can see growth rings on the disk.’
Schlag said he was surprised by the size of the ice circle, which he said would be more likely on a larger river such as the Missouri.
‘That might be one of the better examples I’ve seen,’ he said. ‘It’s a pretty cool one.’