Mysterius circles in the water off the coast of eastern Denmark

There are mysterious circles forming in the past weeks in the shallow waters off the coast of Moen (Møn).

Full story here (with a picture) - Danish text here:

The picture text refers to a mysterious number 800 in the left hand corner of the picture.

Google Translation here:

"Mysterious circles next to Mons Klint
18th June 2011 06:50 Vordingborg

Many visitors to Mons Klint has in the past few weeks witnessed a strange phenomenon on the seabed off the cliff: Large black circles in close formation.

DR Zealand have contacted Geocenter Møn to get an explanation, but here the message is that so far is a mystery.

- We can see now that it exists in several places here, both at the vantage point Forchhammer Garnish and down against Gråryg party. This is something that has arisen over the past few weeks and we've never seen it before, Jesper Kristiansen, who is education director at Geocenter.

Memories of crop circles
The phenomenon may recall the highly publicized crop circles that have been the subject of some conspiracy theories. The circles at Moen measure a dozen feet in diameter, and one place they form apparently figure 800th

They may also recall the bomb craters, and Jesper Kristiansen remindsus that the Germans during World War II performed tests in the region.

But he now leans more towards a scientific explanation:

After the Illuminates explanations
- In woods and gardens have been the fairy rings, that is a fungus that grows in circular patterns. This might be a seaweed species that does something similar, says guessed from the education director.

He would like to hear from people who have ideas of what the phenomenon is. Though he will some day organize an expedition, where divers must closer look at the mysterious circles on the seabed and possibly take samples in the country."

You can't even tell what it is... It's just a grainy picture... It's strange, but in a what the heck am I looking at kind of way!

reply to post by HolgerTheDane


Hey, that is interesting HolgerTheDane! Without any knowledge other than the article, is it possible it is as simple as the waters clearing to reveal these structures? Did they just show up? Pretty cool that it is so obvious - I am sure we'll have an experts analysis soon! Thanks!

ColoradoJens

Well come on! I wonder what they are waiting for? Go explore. There are plenty of explorers out there who will be glad to jump in and find out. Hell, I'll go myself as long as a research team comes with me. This actually big. It could be completely new species of algae. I'll be waiting and curious.

DR Zealand have contacted Geocenter Møn to get an explanation, but here the message is that so far is a mystery.

He can't swim?

reply to post by Phage


Second time in two days I flip down a page, glance at a post, spit my coffee on the screen laughing.
Curse you Phage!!

CJ

Originally posted by Phage

DR Zealand have contacted Geocenter Møn to get an explanation, but here the message is that so far is a mystery.

He can't swim?

Sorry. Perhaps I should have elaborated a bit. DR stands for Danmarks Radio - or in other words our Public Service TV channel.

And Zealand is the English name for the island of Sjælland where Copenhagen is situated.
And for the Americans... Copenhagen is our Capital.

Originally posted by JJDoggie84
You can't even tell what it is... It's just a grainy picture... It's strange, but in a what the heck am I looking at kind of way!

You are looking at a photograph taken from a chalk cliff looking down into the water.

another link to another TV-channel
TV2

The picture on the top links to a larger picture.

The bottom video talk about circles 2 to 6 metres in diameter.
One guy talks about the possibility of fossil backbones from an unknown dinosaur.

This coming week they send down some divers to investigate.
"If they can pick it it is something that grows. If it is hard it begins to be very interesting..."

Originally posted by Jepic
Well come on! I wonder what they are waiting for? Go explore. There are plenty of explorers out there who will be glad to jump in and find out. Hell, I'll go myself as long as a research team comes with me. This actually big. It could be completely new species of algae. I'll be waiting and curious.

It is end of week and they wait for a chance to dive during normal working hours where they will get paid normal wages. The big bosses refuse to pay double overtime to satisfy a few people on ATS.

Originally posted by ColoradoJens
reply to post by HolgerTheDane

 

Hey, that is interesting HolgerTheDane! Without any knowledge other than the article, is it possible it is as simple as the waters clearing to reveal these structures? Did they just show up? Pretty cool that it is so obvious - I am sure we'll have an experts analysis soon! Thanks!

ColoradoJens

The "structures" were seens a few days ago by accident when the weather was good, the light was just right and the see was absolutely still.
A picture was taken back in 2008 showing one of the circles, so it didn't just pop out of nowhere.

reply to post by HolgerTheDane


Well, to me it looks like some sort of biological formation, in the second pic you can see some patches of the green stuff growing in randonm patterns.

It looks to me like they are tracing out impact craters. Or maybe the conditions (currents, waves, etc) make these biota grow in this particular ring pattern.

Would be cool if there were impact craters that they were tracing out.

Interesting thread.

reply to post by HolgerTheDane


It looks like the aquatic equivalent of a Fairy Ring.

secondus

bottle nose dolphins off the coast of Florida have been documented using an unusual method to corral fish, by stirring up sediment and mud in a ring, they herd groups of fish into these areas to feed!

Afterward you can observe the feeding field as the water settles...circles in the mud and sand left behind.

perhaps, a similar situation is occurring with some type of wildlife in that area?

It appears that the Geocenter Moensklint is prepared to fork out money for a dive on saturday the 25.

reply to post by HolgerTheDane


Great thread!

If anyone is interested over at earthfiles, Linda Moulton Howe has also added a good picture of the underwater circles:

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/47a4f5b88d59.jpg[/atsimg]

And they also link to a video (in Dutch though) where a reporter discusses the interesting phenomenon:

Dutch Video:

www.tv2east.dk...

Earthfiles main site: www.earthfiles.com...

Interesting thread. S&F!

This is not a new phenomenon:



Probably eelgrass:



The question now could be: "why are they forming circles?"

Well now.
The "probably eelgrass" has been revised to certainly eelgrass.
Now they are leaning towards the fairy circle explanation.

Originally posted by OwenandNoelle
***snip***

And they also link to a video (in Dutch though) where a reporter discusses the interesting phenomenon:

Dutch Video:

www.tv2east.dk...

Earthfiles main site: www.earthfiles.com...

edit on 29-6-2011 by OwenandNoelle because: (no reason given)

Let's call it Danish (rather than Dutch).

In the film they talk about the circles groving on raised circles. They don't know if the eel grass has produced the raised circles or if the eelgrass grow on top of them.

There is some speculation about the raised circles being the result of Germans having fun during the occupation in WWII (we were occupied before the brave Americans came and saved the world with only minor help from all the allied countries).

Latest news about the Eel Grass Circles:

Translated from Danish by Google. I can't be asked to proof read, so you will have to suffer. Actually I CAN be asked but I won't do it.
Even with Google Trannylation the message is quite clear.


"The mystic circles at Mons Klint, who was on everyone's lips earlier this summer, is now known throughout the world. Denmark's leading seabed researchers are namely these days by examining the circles that have been shown to consist of eelgrass.

These investigations, among others consists of placing electrodes on eelgrass, must fall to culminate in a research report. It must be published in international journals, reaching out to scientists and other interested parties all over the globe.

U.S. parallels
Associate Professor Jens Borum, who has been studying eelgrass in about 30 years, has never even seen eelgrass proliferate so clearly in circles, as has happened at Mons Klint. He knows, however, to a phenomenon in Florida in the U.S. where you have seen the distinctive circular holes in a second type of water plant. The holes are caused by the plant has languished in the middle, and the Danish researchers believe it is something similar has happened at Moen.

- Gather a lot of mud in between the plants, and thus is also toxin sulfide, explains Jens Borum DR Zealand.

- Normally sulfide trapped by iron, and so the substance is not toxic, but here next to the cliff is all iron bound by limestone. So we think that there are higher sulfidkoncentrationer and that they create these strange forms.

Eelgrass worldwide
Eelgrass is actually a fairly large area of ​​research worldwide, partly because the way they grow and die, says something about how the marine environment has it. And accordingly, the current study at Mons Klint also considerable international interest, emphasizes Jens Borum.

Already now we can all over the world see the circles at Mons Klint with your own eyes. Jens Borum Indeed discovered them on Google's satellite images on the Internet. These circles are not directly off the cliff, but on the north side of Moen near Borre. The satellite image is believed to have a few years old. "

EDIT: Have a look at Google Maps
Eel Grass Circles In Denmark