Incredible Footage of Giant Spinning Ice Disk on a River in China Captivates Residents
Residents in a northern Chinese city have flocked to see a giant ice disc rotating on a river, a rare natural phenomenon that occurs in cold climates.
Incredible footage shows the ice circle, measuring about 33 feet (10 metres) wide, spinning on the surface of the Taoer River in Inner Mongolia’s Ulanhot, a city with an average winter temperature of minus six degrees Celsius (21 degrees Fahrenheit).
The captivating rarity, usually formed on the outer bends in a river, is created by accelerating water that breaks off a chunk of ice and smooths it into a circle.
Footage filmed Wednesday by local newspaper Xing’an Daily shows the naturally-formed ice disc, with a reported diameter of 10 metres (33 feet), appearing to spin on its own in an anticlockwise direction.
The unusual sight has drawn residents to the banks of the Taoer River running through the city of Ulanhot, where the temperatures in winter range between minus eight degrees Celsius (17.6 degrees Fahrenheit) to two degrees Celsius (35.6 degrees Fahrenheit).
‘It’s amazing,’ a resident told Chinese video news outlet Pear. ‘It’s the magnificent work crafted by nature, really captivating.’
Reporters can be seen in a picture standing at the centre of the ice disc as they hosted a live-streaming to promote local products.
Ice discs come into being because warm water is less dense than cold water, therefore when the ice melts and sinks, the motion creates a vortex underneath the chunk, causing it to turn, according to National Geographic, citing a 2016 study.
The ‘whirlpool effect’ slowly erodes the plate of ice until its edges are smooth and its overall shape is perfectly round.
Ice discs even rotate in water that is not moving, because the ice lowers the temperature of the surrounding water, making it denser and causing it to sink, creating a circular motion.
One of the most famous ice discs in recent times was sighted early last year in Presumpscot River in downtown Westbrook, Maine.
The spectacle was said to be about 300 feet in diameter and likely the largest spinning ice disc on record.
Last month, the natural rarity was spotted in Inner Mongolia’s Genhe, a city dubbed ‘China’s pole of cold’.
The ice disc was seen on the Genhe River, which has an average temperature of minus 5.3 degrees Celsius, and is frozen over more than 200 days per year.
