There are species of seals who actively keep holes open in the ice to use as breathing holes, allowing them to hunt fish even in frozen-over bodies of water.
They’re all ocean-dwelling species in the arctic or antarctic oceans, so this isn’t the answer to your specific question, but I just think they’re neat.
Before reading the “so this isn’t the answer to your specific question, but I just think they’re neat.” My mind went:
A seal? At this time of year? At this time of day? In this part of the country? Localized entirely within their pond?
Yes!
May I see it?
My best hyptothesis is that in the center of each of those disks a hole may have been or still is through which pond water is wicking upwards and melting the snow in a circular fashion before freezing and coming to a halt. Hence the almost perfect circular shape and the weird lighter color in the center … notice the crack in the center of the disk in the foreground?
fish farts
I snorted my coffee, thanks.
Huh… Like off a key or in a line or something? Also… Why?
Forgot the “out”, bit decided to just leave it for the lolz.
I definitely enjoyed the lolz, just figured I’d go for the low-hanging fruit before anyone could beat me to it.
I’ll get back to you with some readings
Fish ghosts.
I’m not a hydrologist, but I suspect it’s due to areas of upwelling warmer water. Alternatively, the ice could have formed, but these spots are where the surface was too unstable to permit that (wind?)
Swirls in the water?
Might be eddy currents.
Good guess. Also rocks closer to the surface can transfer heat to the surrounding water.
Air bubbles I think. Keeps the water moving.
Where the fish peed.
Just in case you are interested, here is a similar phenomenon - photographed on the moat of Leeds Castle in Kent, UK - back in Jan 2010
A close up
I’m not seeing anything in either comment.
Interesting. I embedded an image in each using the kbin.social web app. Wonder if that functionality doesn’t federate.
Not even seeing any text?
Just text.
Bird? Snowball? Looks more “soggy” than melted, necessarily.
It is a neat effect. Have you tried making your own melt circle?
Thought the same, maybe there were ducks hanging out earlier on.
