Feb 26, 2023 08:51 PM
(This post was last modified: Feb 26, 2023 08:54 PM by Magical Realist.)
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2004/apr/01/farout
"It's often said that we know outer space better than the depths of our own oceans. Certainly they're home to some little-understood natural phenomena, of which none is more dazzling than the lightwheels.
These spectacular submarine lightshows range in size from a few metres across to filling the entire visible ocean with phosphorescent colour. They take many forms: long, straight bands stretching across the horizon; simple rings and ellipses; concentric circles that pulsate from a brightly glowing centre; and curving, spoked wheels which rotate, sometimes at dizzying speeds. The displays can last a few minutes or several hours, with numerous patterns appearing in sequence, or even simultaneously.
The Marine Observer, the journal of the marine division of the Met Office, contains detailed reports of lightwheel observations going back more than a century; but no expeditions have set out specifically to study them.
Ordinary bioluminescent surface phenomena are seen most often in warmer waters like the Persian Gulf, the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea. Generally occurring between March and June, they consist of millions of micro-organisms and larger plankton that drift near the ocean surface. These micro-organisms glow when shaken or disturbed, lighting up the wakes and bow waves of ships, or the crests of waves, sometimes forming great milky blankets over the sea. Less common are balls of light and long worm-like shapes seen glowing underwater, as described by Thor Heyerdahl on his 1947 Kon-Tiki voyage; these have been attributed to shoals or large single fish moving among the luminous organisms.
But the huge rings and wheels appear more rarely, and their cause remains undetermined. Some have connected the pulsating signal-like patterns to the communications devices on ships and submarines, but lightwheel reports pre-date radar and sonar, even radio. Others have attributed the patterns to whale communication, tectonic movement, geomagnetic pulses from the earth's core or, more fancifully, to the beacons of a great submarine civilisation. We can guess, but we just don't know. Awe-inspiring and beautiful, unfilmed and unphotographed, the lightwheels remain an unfathomable mystery."
"It's often said that we know outer space better than the depths of our own oceans. Certainly they're home to some little-understood natural phenomena, of which none is more dazzling than the lightwheels.
These spectacular submarine lightshows range in size from a few metres across to filling the entire visible ocean with phosphorescent colour. They take many forms: long, straight bands stretching across the horizon; simple rings and ellipses; concentric circles that pulsate from a brightly glowing centre; and curving, spoked wheels which rotate, sometimes at dizzying speeds. The displays can last a few minutes or several hours, with numerous patterns appearing in sequence, or even simultaneously.
The Marine Observer, the journal of the marine division of the Met Office, contains detailed reports of lightwheel observations going back more than a century; but no expeditions have set out specifically to study them.
Ordinary bioluminescent surface phenomena are seen most often in warmer waters like the Persian Gulf, the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea. Generally occurring between March and June, they consist of millions of micro-organisms and larger plankton that drift near the ocean surface. These micro-organisms glow when shaken or disturbed, lighting up the wakes and bow waves of ships, or the crests of waves, sometimes forming great milky blankets over the sea. Less common are balls of light and long worm-like shapes seen glowing underwater, as described by Thor Heyerdahl on his 1947 Kon-Tiki voyage; these have been attributed to shoals or large single fish moving among the luminous organisms.
But the huge rings and wheels appear more rarely, and their cause remains undetermined. Some have connected the pulsating signal-like patterns to the communications devices on ships and submarines, but lightwheel reports pre-date radar and sonar, even radio. Others have attributed the patterns to whale communication, tectonic movement, geomagnetic pulses from the earth's core or, more fancifully, to the beacons of a great submarine civilisation. We can guess, but we just don't know. Awe-inspiring and beautiful, unfilmed and unphotographed, the lightwheels remain an unfathomable mystery."
