Editing Openai/6931de57-27f0-800d-a7ec-5c38e9be2084


{{DISPLAYTITLE:Frozen lake circles causes}}

''This conversation was exported from ChatGPT''<ref>{{cite web|title=Frozen lake circles causes|url=https://chatgpt.com/share/6931de57-27f0-800d-a7ec-5c38e9be2084|publisher=ChatGPT|access-date=2025-12-04}}</ref>

== gpt-5-1 ==
=== User: Why does the frozen lake have large circles on the ice ===
Why does the frozen lake have large circles on the ice

=== Assistant: Large circles on a frozen lake are surprisingly common, and they can come from a few natural causes. ===
Large circles on a frozen lake are surprisingly common, and they can come from a few natural causes. Here are the most likely reasons:

===== 1. Springs or Warm Water Upwellings =====
* If there’s a spring or a spot where slightly warmer water rises from below, it melts the underside of the ice in a round shape.
* This creates perfect or near-perfect circles that look darker than the surrounding ice.

===== 2. Rotting Vegetation or Gas Bubbles =====
* Decomposing plants at the bottom of a shallow lake release methane.
* The rising warm gas can thin the ice in circular patterns.
* Sometimes the circles look white, sometimes dark, depending on snow coverage and how the gas froze beneath the ice.

===== 3. Ice Stress Patterns =====
* As a lake freezes and expands, circular cracks or “pressure rings” can form.
* These look like faint white or gray circles and can be quite large.

===== 4. Wind and Snow Patterns =====
* Wind can blow snow off in circular patches.
* Or snow can melt and refreeze unevenly, leading to oddly perfect circles.

===== 5. Man-made causes =====

Less common, but possible:
* Aerators (used to keep parts of a pond from freezing) create round openings.
* Ice fishing huts sometimes leave round melt areas afterward.

If you want, you can send a picture of the circles you saw—I can identify the exact cause.

== References ==
<references />


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