Bubbles suspended in time in ice

I found these bubbles, suspended in the ice, in the ponds in the bottom of my garden.



I am guessing that it's due to photosynthesisation as mainly concentrated in areas of greater plant density, but not exclusively so.

Also the water surface, in one of the ponds in particular (only constructed last September) looks more like it has a covering of poorly applied clingfilm than frozen, with frozen 'ripples' radiating out.

Probably nothing that exciting but I've never come across this before, over (too) many years of pond passion!

Here is a link to another photo with more detail -

files.abovetopsecret.com...

Any explanations anyone?

Really cool picture. My first thought was flash frozen but I am sure their is a good explanation.

reply to post by Psychoparrot


reminds me of that stuff, magic sand, that kids played with in an old fish tank.. the sand would keep a shiney bubble of air around it.. so it was always dry and didn't turn into mud.

cool pic though !! never seen frozen bubbles like that.

reply to post by Psychoparrot

From my own observations, water freezes from the top down. It does look like the bubbles have flatness at the top. No idea but I will offer a humourous comment. Frog or fish farts? I'm sure an expert will be along soon to tell us though. Cool pic!

I have a small fish pond and I have seen this happened when it got really cold really fast for an extended period.
I have a little heater that keeps a hole open to allow oxygen in for the fish.
It's weird,cause you can look through the ice and think the fish are frozen in there but there are not.
They are in a sort of hibernation.

But this year I haven't had a winter ,so no need for the little heater.

Your plants in there release oxygen and was captured.

I'm just guessing here, but there is a chance that it could be methane gas that was released shortly after the surface froze over, and the bubbles were created as the ice got thicker.

Originally posted by isyeye
I'm just guessing here, but there is a chance that it could be methane gas that was released shortly after the surface froze over, and the bubbles were created as the ice got thicker.

edit on 4-2-2012 by isyeye because: (no reason given)

That to,decomposing plant material.

HOLY CRAP!!!

Sorry, I have absolutely nothing intellectual or scientific to add to this.
I guess I'm just easily amused - but I love this photo. Wow! This is very cool!
And the only way for me to express my appreciation for this photo as art is...

HOLY CRAP!!!

Not trying to diss your photo, but wouldn't it look the same even if the water wasn't frozen?

reply to post by satron

Originally posted by satron
Not trying to diss your photo, but wouldn't it look the same even if the water wasn't frozen?

Actually, probably not. If you notice, there are quite a few small bubbles in the picture. If the water wasn't frozen, you would only see small bubbles coming to the surface. With the water freezing, the gas accumulates over time, and the larger bubbles are created.

Originally posted by isyeye
I'm just guessing here, but there is a chance that it could be methane gas that was released shortly after the surface froze over, and the bubbles were created as the ice got thicker.

edit on 4-2-2012 by isyeye because: (no reason given)

I would second that guess

Very cool pics Psychoparrot. I've got a pond myself but stuff doesn't freeze over where I live in Australia so I'm just purely speculating here.

Ponds (especially garden ponds) are always relasing a few little bubbles here and there, and most of it's due to rotting matter at the bottom. I would guess that these little bubbles get trapped under the ice and collect in the one spot forming the big bubble, and then the ice freezes down around it. After one lot of matter has rotted and released all its gas, another lot which was deposited in the pond at a later time one may reach a point in its decomposition cycle where it begins to release gas, thus forming another large bubble at a lower level.

You could try popping the bubble and having a sniff. Methane is odorless but rotting stuff generally releases a few different types of gas, and if one of them's hydrogen sulphide then it will smell like fart.... Or you could try and light it....

its bubbles of oxygen (day) and co2 (night) produced by your pond plants, right?

can't tell what kind of plants are those?? i would have guessed Anacharis, but hard to see

due the movement which accelerated the freezing process...

Wow, I can totally see a man's face at the bottom/center of the photo...

There's a GREY
hibernating in your pond?

reply to post by Psychoparrot


I am calling fake on this one! I could knock the same thing out on photoshop
in half a day. I don't think you own a pond at all. In fact I think you live in a
high rise building.
Nice try though.

Bubbles in water! LOL! Whatever next?

Originally posted by pshea38
reply to post by Psychoparrot

 

I am calling fake on this one! I could knock the same thing out on photoshop
in half a day. I don't think you own a pond at all. In fact I think you live in a
high rise building.
Nice try though.

Bubbles in water! LOL! Whatever next?

All I can say is - go on then

LightSpeedDriver - well there are no fish in there and do frogs actually fart? Come to think of it I don't know what frog poo looks like.

One of my ponds is now three years old and has had a healthy colony of frogs and newts which spawn there, sadly no toads as yet though have seen the odd one in the garden. I put the other pond together last September so it's not had time to get much in it yet but the water is lovely and clear now - it was teeming with daphnia. The bubbles are in both. The ponds have been set up for wildlife, amphibians in particular hence no fish.

To isyeye and anyone else who suggested methane - guess I could scratch'n sniff! Wouldn't it burn if it was pure oxygen or methane. As one of the ponds hasn't got enough material yet to produce that amount of methane from decomposition, plus the cold - don't think it could be methane.

ignant - the plants are mainly oxygenators - canadian pondweed, hornwort plus bogbean, mint, watercress, iris,waterlilly and rushes. I guess a decomposing alien might produce alot of gas!

satron - if the ponds looked like that normally I'd be bloody worried but I do see the odd bubble come up, sometimes obviously from the plants and othertimes, from the deeper recesses (and yes frog farts maybe).

Kdog - think you have a point about the quick freezing. Up until last week it has been pretty mild in south west UK, plus the sun has started to hit the pond area of the garden, so I guess that would spark off some activity in everything. Have been checking daily to see if any early spawn. The weather did indeed change quickly.

Yes, beginning to make sense - plants started producing O2, then rapid temp. drop. The water would freeze on the surface first, trapping O2 bubbles from escaping. More and more O2 would get trapped causing a backup, with that bubble growing in size till limited by frozen water. It would be a while before the plants became frozen or O2 production inhibited so a fresh bubble would build up, until it too, was limited as the layer of ice rapidly travelled downwards. This would explain the apparant layers. As it does not often go from being so mild to so cold in such a short time, O2 bubbles rarely get trapped like this. Makes sense to me.

Thanks for nice comments about pic - and whereas I did use photoshop elements to crop, sharpen, brighten and re-size photo (to make it look like what I could actually see, not distort), the subject matter is entirely genuine.

Coooeey pshea38.............I'm waiting!

Originally posted by Psychoparrot

Originally posted by pshea38
reply to post by Psychoparrot

 

I am calling fake on this one! I could knock the same thing out on photoshop
in half a day. I don't think you own a pond at all. In fact I think you live in a
high rise building.
Nice try though.

Bubbles in water! LOL! Whatever next?

All I can say is - go on then

Thanks for nice comments about pic - and whereas I did use photoshop elements to crop, sharpen, brighten and re-size photo (to make it look like what I could actually see, not distort), the subject matter is entirely genuine.

Coooeey pshea38.............I'm waiting!

Well, you called my bluff Psychoparrot, so I bluffed your call.
(Without using any of your fancy big words like crop and re-size).

Take that my friend - read it and weed, I mean weep!


Frog farts my ARSE!
Identical results achieved, and I didn't have to lick no toads!

Beautiful picture! I have had a little Google as to the whys and hows...not really any the wiser...other than the obvious that bodies of water freeze from the top down, therefore capturing bubbles in the motion of freezing...but the freeze would still have to be pretty rapid...but found more stunning photos...the first link in particular is amazing...

gizmodo.com...

www.blograzzi.net...

What a wonderful world!

Biliverdin - great pics and it would seem rapid freezing is indeed behind the bubble phenonema in my ponds.

pshea - not sure what your game is, are you trying to get me going or something?

In the (hopefully unlikely) possibility of you being serious in your comments, 'crop' and 'resize' are everyday words to anyone who looks at their digital photos on a computer. Frog farts was a joke!

Oh and the drawing of two fish with a japanese feel to it bears no relation to my photo - but I'm sure you know this.