2008 started off with reports from Sweden about the appearance of ice circles. At the beginning of April, local
Christopher Boie found the following ice circle at Sanna in de province of Hälsingland:
Photo: Maria Akerblom. The circle lay in very thin ice, which made it impossible for visitors to take a closer look.
A few days later, Maria Akerblom sent in more photos, shot from the other side of the lake. At the perimeter of the
circle the ice had been pushed up slightly. Did the circle have a rotating movement, causing this to happen?
The ice circle remained visible for two weeks.
Even earlier this year (at the end of January), an ice circle had been reported at the village of Norrbotten (Sweden):
Photo: Pär Bäckström. On 31 January 20008 Stig Enkvist discovered a beautiful ice circle at Råneälven (Northern Sweden).
At that moment, the ring was still attached to the rest of the frozen lake, but two days later the ice got separate and started rotating.
The inner circle was about 50 m. in diameter, the ring of water was 75 cm. wide. The ice itself was about 30
cm. thick.
According to journalist Clas Svahn of the national news paper Dagens Nyheter, this is quite a rare phenomenon.
Although sometimes a water vortex may produce ice rings (in which case the rotating vortex makes it impossible for the growing ice to
attach itself to the rest of the frozen lake or river), here at Råneälven the opposite thing had occured. After all, at first the ice ring was attached
to the rest of the frozen lake! It wasn't until several days later that it got separate and started rotating.
Whichever way it happened and whatever caused this to occur (natural or supernatural?), it is a magnificent view...
Many thanks to Eva Brekkestö of the Norwegian crop circle website and to
Andreas Müller of the German crop circle website for their reports.
