An eerie spinning ice-disk has suddenly appeared in the middle of a Chinese river on New Years Day.

The large disk could be seen spinning  in the middle of the Liao River in north-eastern China’s Liaoning Province after it became separated from the frozen surface.

Oddly, it appears to be in a perfect disc shape, with the melting water underneath causing it to spin around.

Locals have been visiting the Liao River section in droves to stand on the ice structure and images being shared on Chinese social media shows people bringing their pets.

Social media users are continuing to debate how the ice flow might have been made, but one leading theory suggests that the chunk of ice has been slowly ‘carved’ into the perfect circle while spinning in the middle of the river.

However, experts have said this theory is not correct.

A similar disk was also found in a partially frozen river in Hulun Buir City in northern Inner Mongolia in November last year.

he phenomenon is usually seen in the Arctic, Scandinavia and Canada but is extremely rare in other areas.

Experts have said it is actually because as the temperatures in the water begins to rise, it becomes denser, according to a team of physicists from the University of Liege in Belgium.

However, when the water around the edges begins to melt, the water doesn’t automatically go downwards but twists, creating a vertical vortex, much like when running water spirals around a plughole.

As the disk rotates, the ice is grinds against the surrounding ice and is formed into a perfect circle.

These disks are usually tiny and don’t become larger than a CD, but some have been known to get as large as 17m across.

Source:
courtesy of METRO

by Kate Buck

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