Marcia White Bower posted these photos at EarthSky Facebook this week. They are rare ice circles, on Onondaga Lake in Syracuse, New York, seen on February 18, 2017. Ice circles tend to form in the center of lakes or streams, but they can also form along the edges, as these have. You need slow-moving currents, moving in circular eddies, to form ice circles, and you need just the right air and water temperature. So they’re rare!
Thank you, Marcia.
By the way, ice circles come in various sizes. The ones Marcia captured look about CD-sized.
But there’ve also been sightings of huge ice circles, many feet across, such as the one caught last month by Kaylyn Messer in Washington state. She posted it on her Instagram page …
Deborah Byrd created the EarthSky radio series in 1991 and founded EarthSky.org in 1994. Prior to that, she had worked for the University of Texas McDonald Observatory since 1976, and created and produced their Star Date radio series. Today, she serves as Editor-in-Chief of this website. She has won a galaxy of awards from the broadcasting and science communities, including having an asteroid named 3505 Byrd in her honor. In 2020, she won the Education Prize from the American Astronomical Society, the largest organization of professional astronomers in North America. A science communicator and educator since 1976, Byrd believes in science as a force for good in the world and a vital tool for the 21st century. "Being an EarthSky editor is like hosting a big global party for cool nature-lovers," she says.
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