Original subtitles

Narrator: they're watching you.

More than 4,000 satellites Circle the earth.

Every day, they uncover new, Mysterious phenomena.

Some defy explanation.

Porges: that's crazy!

What is going on here?

Whatever it is, It can't be good.

Narrator: vast claw marks scar The desert of west africa.

Pavelec: we've got An astronaut asking,

"What the heck is this?"

Narrator: An isolated alaskan town Gets slimed overnight.

Condon: this orange sludge Was a biomaterial.

It was alive.

Narrator: An entire lake vanishes In the land of celtic legend.

Kourounis: One moment there's a lake, And the next, it's gone.

What's going on?

Narrator: baffling phenomena, Mysteries form space.

What on earth are they?

[ camera shutter snapping ]

-- captions by vitac -- Www.Vitac.Com

Captions paid for by Discovery communications

March 8, 2014.

Tragedy strikes over the ocean In southeast asia.

Malaysia airlines Flight mh370 disappears

After taking off From kuala lumpur

En route to beijing.

Air search started 7:00 a.M. This morning.

There's no sign Of the aircraft.

Narrator: the boeing 777 Has 239 passengers

And crew onboard.

There's no warning, No distress signal.

It simply vanishes.

We don't know if potentially That aircraft got shot down.

Narrator: a massive Search operation begins.

Investigators turn to satellites To search the ocean

For any trace of The doomed aircraft.

There are a lot of theories About where it went,

When it last made contact, Who it made contact with,

Because there were A lot of people involved

In trying to find And recover this airplane.

Narrator: days pass with No sign of the plane,

And speculation mounts

That its disappearance Was no accident.

The fact that the transponders Were turned off is a concern.

Narrator: on march 12,

Four days after The disappearance,

The investigation Has a breakthrough.

A chinese satellite orbiting Over the south china sea

Spies an unidentified Triangular shape

Floating off The coast of vietnam.

Capps: it'd be amazing If a satellite had found

The wreckage of mh370.

Narrator: the object is lying In the south china sea

On the scheduled Flight path of mh370

From kuala lumpur to The chinese capital, beijing.

Analysis of The triangular mass

Spotted in The satellite image

Suggests it could be A fragment of a wing.

The photograph helps focus The most expensive

Search mission In aviation history.

Using the gps coordinates,

Rescue teams Race to the location

Of the triangular object.

But when the malaysians Sent the navy

To look at that location,

There was nothing there.

Zip.

Narrator: while the search For mh370 continues,

The object in the image Presents a new mystery.

It could be a number of things.

Maybe a ship of some sort? It would be pretty big.

Narrator: examination of Official shipping records

Reveals there were no Registered vessels

Passing through the area At the time the photo was taken.

An unsettling New theory emerges.

Pavelec: it's not reflecting The light like it should,

So maybe it's a ship

Or maybe it's a secret ship Of some sort,

Involving some high technology Stealth or something.

Narrator: the unidentified Object raises suspicions

That someone could be Deploying stealth vessels

In the south china sea.

Capps: if you could have Marine vehicles

That can be invisible In the water,

That would be huge And really affect things.

Driscoll: stealth technology Is the holy grail

Of the defense industry, So when you create

These stealth boats, That's a very scary idea.

Narrator: The u.S. Navy leads the world

In the development Of stealth warships,

But officials Deny any knowledge

Of u.S. Stealth ships Currently in the area.

The image fuels fears

That china could have Mastered the technology.

The united states Has been developing

Stealth for surface ships For about two decades.

No doubt in my mind That the chinese would love

To get their hands On the design specifications.

There's so many stories about The chinese military

Reverse-engineering U.S. Technology.

Stealth technology would be A massive game-changer.

Pavelec: the south china sea is A very tense part of the world.

You've got a lot of countries Vying for power and control,

And especially as New resources are found,

With fisheries and oil And things like that.

You've got china moving in,

Creating new Air landing strips.

U.S. Is patrolling through.

The last thing we need Is something new,

Scary, and different In this space.

Narrator: if china has built Stealth warships

And deployed them in Such hotly disputed waters,

It could have a global impact.

Right now, all the eyes Are on the middle east,

But if I had to pick a place World war iii could start,

It's the south china sea.

Narrator: the source of The satellite image

Raises questions About china's motivations

For bringing it To global attention.

The chinese were the first Really to say, "Here, look.

We saw some spots That look kind of odd."

Why were the chinese so willing To give up information?

They never give out Their satellite information.

And the only reason They would would be

To really veer you off-course

Of something they may not Want you to look at.

Narrator: If stealth warships are being Deployed in these waters,

The chances of catching them On satellite imagery are slim.

Some scientists suggest There could be

An innocent explanation

For the strange object In the image --

Fishing.

Miller: some people aren't As careful as others

And they let their fishing gear Loose into the sea

When it no longer serves A purpose or it's broken

And they just discard it, Thinking the sea is a --

An infinite reservoir For discarded fishing gear.

Narrator: the image was taken Over one of the most

Heavily fished areas In the world.

The object could be a trace Of a shadowy

Illegal practice Known as ghost fishing.

Miller: ghost fishing Or derelict fishing gear

Is essentially when Pieces of fishing gear

Keep fishing after They've been discarded at sea,

And it can be very harmful To the marine life

Because a lot of different Animals can get trapped in it

And it basically Starts to build up

And it becomes Larger and larger.

Narrator: Ghost nets can grow to be As big as 4,000 feet,

Large enough to show up On a satellite photograph.

We can see Ghost nets from space.

You would have to know Exactly where one is

And look with The satellite camera

At the right time To pick it up,

And then the ocean conditions Have to be

Just right for you To recognize it as such.

Ghost nets can span Several football fields,

And any marine mammal, Including large whales,

That get entangled then Can die and sink.

It kills life and it keeps Killing and it keeps killing.

Narrator: But there are no reports

Of discarded fishing gear In the area

At the time of The disappearance of mh370.

The floating object In the satellite image

Remains unidentified.

Capps: none of this Is adding up.

Bottom line, We don't know.

Narrator: to this day, It remains

One of the world's Most enduring mysteries.

What on earth happened To flight mh370?

February 22, 2016.

The international space station Orbits over the algerian desert.

British astronaut tim peake Captures a disturbing image --

Claw-like streaks Across the earth

250 miles below.

Very clear Looking at this photograph

From the space station that Something unusual is going on.

It's a spectacular image.

It looks like fiery fingers

Stretching across Western africa.

Narrator: Peake posts the disturbing Image on social media,

Asking, "Is it just me,

Or do I see some Rocket flames down there?"

Narrator: Astronaut tim peake captures A chilling image

250 miles below the International space station.

The size and scale Of the flaming orange trails

Provokes wild speculation.

We've got an esa astronaut Asking,

"What the heck is this?"

Narrator: the image was taken As peake flew

Over the algerian desert In western africa.

These are enormous.

These things are upwards Of 250 kilometers long.

Narrator: the flame-like Streaks stretch further

Than the distance from Los angeles to san diego.

The photo raises The alarming possibility

That advanced rocket weaponry

Is being used in This volatile region.

Lester: these could Actually be flames.

These could be Some kind of destruction

Of the landscape here, Which is pretty frightening.

This is a dangerous Part of the world.

Border conflicts, Guerrilla warfare,

Insurgencies have been Raging for decades.

If this picture turns out To be rocket trails,

That complicates it Even further.

Narrator: the most advanced Rocket weapon systems now in use

Are capable of firing Multiple warheads

Over vast distances.

They can leave Long trails of smoke

And flame in the sky.

There are rocket weapon systems Capable of launching two,

Six, eight, Twelve rockets at one time.

You've got al-qaeda And isis in this region.

Could they have Gotten their hands

On some of this Weapons technology

Which would make them Even a greater threat?

The concern from this photograph Is that isis could increase

Their effectiveness And efficiency

And make them Even more dangerous

Than we think That they already are.

But rockets move so fast,

It's difficult to catch them On camera from space.

It's not impossible, But the probability

Of taking a photograph At the exact same time

That a multiple rocket launch Is going on

Is very, Very unlikely.

So if they aren't Rocket vapor trails,

What are these orange streaks?

Narrator: the desert location Offers a potential clue.

Despite the conflicts Raging in this region,

The floating orange streaks Could be the result

Of a less sinister Human activity.

For motorsports fanatics, This is a great place to race.

This part of The western sahara desert

Has been used for many years

For off-road vehicles For rallies,

Like the paris-dakar rally, The libyan rally.

I suppose it could be

A series of vehicles Churning up the dust.

Narrator: the scorched earth Of the sahara desert

Is a hotspot For endurance races.

The libya rally Sees hundreds of vehicles

Competing across more than 1,600 miles of desert.

Cars can throw huge Dust trails up into the air

As they race at speeds up to 100 miles per hour.

But the sheer size of the Streaks seen in the photograph

Makes the rally race theory Unlikely.

The scale is just Much too big for them

To have been caused by Off-road vehicles.

Narrator: Investigators attempt to find

A natural explanation For the strange phenomena.

The area is known For giant sand dunes

Called the erg iguidi.

Is it these strange dunes That peake saw from space?

The erg iguidi are a set Of long, straight dunes

That stretch for a distance Of over 250 miles.

Narrator: fierce desert winds Continually shape

And reshape This unearthly landscape.

Reeder: harmattan winds Are a seasonal wind

That blows across africa And is a driving force

Behind the formation And evolution of these dunes.

Narrator: but the sand dunes By themselves don't explain

Why the streaks appear to be Floating above the ground.

I think what we're looking at Here is a combination

Of two totally different Kinds of materials --

The sand seas, Which are whitish,

And coastal volcanic rocks That are getting moved

By the prevailing winds In these long,

Sinuous strips Of reddish material.

Narrator: The winds blow the sand And rocks up the dunes

Of the erg iguidi, With dramatic results.

Chiao: you think about sand As just being very bland,

But really, The wind shapes and sculpts it,

And so you end up with these Very interesting patterns.

Lester: the contrast between That reddish volcanic rock

And the sand makes for This spectacular

Flame-like appearance On the surface.

The fact that these features Are visible from space

Is testimony to the enormous Scale of the processes

That are going on In the sahara.

Narrator: tim peake's image Of rocket flames

Sparked global speculation.

What he captured was one Of the most powerful forces

On the planet Reshaping the earth itself.

Giant, streaky sand dunes

Is very strange But also very cool.

Narrator: orbiting high above Western europe,

A satellite captures What appears at first

To be an ordinary lake.

But when another Satellite passes over,

It photos only bare earth.

Something has made An entire lake vanish.

We don't know why it's draining. We don't know what's down there.

One moment there's a lake, And the next, it's gone.

What's going on?

Narrator: november 2007.

The worldview-2 satellite Captures an extraordinary image

Of a lake that Mysteriously disappears.

One moment there's a lake, And the next, it's gone.

What's going on?

Narrator: the image shows a lake Called loughareema

In county antrim, Northern ireland.

It's like someone Just took the plug out.

It's extremely weird.

Science is strongly driven By curiosity,

And we want the answers.

Narrator: one disappearing lake Would be weird enough.

Incredibly, this area Appears to have two.

Not far from loughareema Is another vanishing lake

Called lough nasool,

And this one is shrouded In ancient legend.

This place is steeped In celtic mythology.

Maybe there's something In the old tales.

Narrator: According to local legend,

Nearby lough nasool Formed three millennia ago

After an epic battle Between two kings.

King lugh, a celtic sun god, Fought his grandfather, balor,

King of the evil, War-like giants

Called fomorians.

The deadly clash Was to transform

This landscape forever.

During this battle, lugh hits His grandfather in the eye.

Balor goes down.

As balor falls to The ground,

His eye actually Burns a hole into the earth.

Out of that, We get lough nasool.

Lough nasool is said to empty Every 100 years

In honor of This epic battle.

Narrator: For local hydrogeologist Paul wilson,

The legend holds little clue

To how the lakes of the area Actually disappear.

To try and solve the mystery, I've employed

A number of different pieces Of equipment,

Such as a time lapse camera, Which has allowed me

To see what actually Happens with the lake

When it rises and falls.

Narrator: vanishing lakes exist In other parts of the world.

Some can be explained By natural processes.

The so-called "Lost lake" In oregon

Is believed to disappear Because of

Ancient volcanic activity In the area.

Lost lake loses its water Every year in a catastrophic,

Very rapid fashion To a lava tube at depth.

Lava tubes are openings Beneath a volcanic landscape

Where molten rock, lava,

Is moving from one place To another,

And eventually Those locations drain

Of that molten material

And then the openings that are Left behind are the lava tubes.

Those lava tubes drain The 85-acre lake.

It becomes a grassy meadow For part of the year,

And then the lake Will then refill again.

Narrator: there is evidence Of ancient volcanic activity

Close to loughareema In northern ireland.

The lake is only 20 miles away from

Giant's causeway To the north,

And it was formed by Ancient volcanic eruptions.

Maybe there's some Old lava tubes

That caused the water To drain away.

Narrator: But the lava tube's theory Doesn't hold water.

Lava tubes can't be the answer.

There are no lava tubes Right here at this location.

Something else Must be going on.

Narrator: the lake's water Has to be going somewhere.

Wilson analyzes aerial And ground reconnaissance images

For more clues.

Wilson: I went and looked At all the information

I had available to us,

The maps from the geology Surveys that had been done,

Where I thought the water Would be coming back out.

Narrator: wilson conducts An experiment

To try to follow The vanishing water.

Wilson: I know that this water Is all coming form loughareema

Because this has been Traced using a dye

Which was put into loughareema,

And the dye was found to Come out at this location.

Above this point, It's a completely dry riverbed.

There's no water In it at all.

As you come round the corner Of this bend,

Then suddenly You have the spring

And the river starts Flowing again.

Narrator: how the water Gets to this point

From loughareema Is still unclear.

The geology of another

Vanishing lake Could offer a clue.

Canada's medicine lake Sits on an unusual

Limestone landscape Called karst.

Medicine lake in alberta Is a great example

Of a lake that each year

Drains through the karst Landscape beneath of it.

Essentially, what happens Are there are sinkholes

Which form where the limestone Beneath the ground

Dissolves over time To form a big cave.

Narrator: Karst limestone could drain The water from loughareema.

Limestone is A very porous rock.

Maybe the water just Seeps away through that.

There is evidence of Karst limestone here,

But in this mysterious Celtic landscape,

Nothing is as it seems.

Wilson: In normal karst limestone,

You would typically have Large caverns under the ground,

But here are actually lots Of different small channels,

And there's lots of Resistance in those.

So whenever the pressure Builds in the system,

Then the lake fills up.

But during dry periods,

The lake has the chance To drain out,

And that's when The lake then empties.

Narrator: Paul wilson's investigation May have uncovered

Where loughareema's water goes,

But the lake Still holds secrets.

Wilson: one of the things that's Confusing is that

The amount of water That's coming out of the spring

Is twice the amount

That's actually Going into loughareema.

Narrator: why this happens For now remains unexplained.

There might be another Vanishing lake

That we maybe haven't Even seen before.

It's still a big mystery.

Narrator: august 3, 2011.

Residents of a remote Fishing village

In northwest alaska wake up To find their town

Covered in a slimy, Orange goo.

I've never seen anything Like this before.

This is northern alaska. It shouldn't be this color.

It should be a lot greener. It's scary.

We have to figure out What this is.

Narrator: kivalina, Northwest alaska.

The morning of august 3, 2011,

The town wakes to find itself

Covered by a disturbing Orange slime.

An aerial photographer captures

The frightening extent Of what lies beneath.

This is northern alaska. It shouldn't be this color.

It should be a lot greener.

The terrifying image Captures global attention

And triggers A major investigation.

Where once you had clear water,

Now you have orange, Festering goo.

Narrator: the orange slime Is a killer.

There's dead fish floating On this sea of orange goo.

Whatever it is, It can't be good.

Narrator: within 24 hours,

Alaska's department of Environmental conservation

Are on the case.

Environmental chemist Emanuel hignutt

Leads the investigation.

Hignutt: it was quite a shock To the village.

The residents really didn't Know what to make of it.

We were definitely In emergency mode.

And we immediately Initiated an investigation

To determine whether or not This material

That was inundating The village

Was in fact a hazard To public health.

The only real way To tell if it's natural

Or if it's man-made Is to take the stuff,

Send it off, Put it under a microscope,

And try to figure out What we're seeing.

Narrator: hignutt sends a sample

Of the substance To a lab in seattle.

Once the scientists got in there And got some samples,

It just got even More confusing.

Hignutt: They initially did a screen

That told us this was of Biological origin.

It was clearly not a chemical, Not a mineral nature.

Narrator: the test results Reveal something

No one in kivalina imagined.

They realized that actually,

This orange sludge Was a biomaterial.

It was alive.

Hignutt: when we looked at it Under low magnification,

It did give the appearance Of an egg of some sort.

Nelson: The biologists looked at it

And it appeared to be An unknown crustacean egg.

I mean, that's kind Of unbelievable,

Something new to science.

Hignutt: that information Was relayed to the village,

And that caused some concern.

If these are eggs, What the heck laid them

And where is it hiding?

Hignutt: We didn't have enough power

In those microscopes Locally to be able

To identify it beyond the fact That it looked like eggs.

Narrator: Identifying the strange eggs Is simply beyond

The capabilities Of local scientists.

For advanced, High-magnification analysis,

The samples go to A state-of-the-art lab

In charleston, South carolina.

Emanuel gave me a call saying That they had an emergency

And that if I could identify Something for them,

And I said, "Of course, Send me a sample."

When biologist steve morton First looks

At the aerial photographs Of the town,

He believes it shows A harmless natural phenomenon.

I originally thought It was an algal bloom

And it turned out To be something

That absolutely Was not an algal bloom.

Narrator: a rapid growth Of algae in water

Can result in thick colored scum Floating on the surface,

But it doesn't explain The orange substance

Covering the town.

Analysis of the goo Under high magnification

Using a scanning Electron microscope

Forces morton To think again.

Morton: I knew it was something That was either a pollen

Or something else. I'm not a pollen expert,

So I communicated with A colleague of mine

At the new york Botanical gardens.

He said it was definitely Not an algal species.

It's definitely Not a pollen.

He said it was something else.

And what it came out to be

Is that it turned out To be a rust spore.

Narrator: the sinister Orange goo coating the town

And surrounding sea was found To be millions of tiny spores

Of a rust-colored fungus Which infects spruce trees.

These fungal spores are A little bit like a plague.

They're really around Only for one purpose --

To infest and infect a plant.

Narrator: the goo has now been Positively identified,

But its origin Still remains a mystery.

Here you have a spruce rust,

So you need spruce trees,

But there are no Spruce trees around.

This is a treeless Alaskan village.

Where did it come from? Nobody knows.

Narrator: Nasa's terra satellite orbits Over the wisconsin wilderness

When it captures A strange scar

Slashed across The earth's surface.

It looks big, really big.

The scale of the scar Is mind-blowing --

40 miles long, almost twice The width of houston, texas.

The image gets the attention Of meteorologist rebecca schuld.

It's clear the scope of

Just how significant This line is.

It's a very eerie scene.

Narrator: january 10, 2015.

Nasa's terra satellite captures An image of a huge scar

Carved across The wisconsin wilderness.

The unusual mark is miles From the nearest town,

Cutting through the menominee Indian reservation.

We don't expect to see A straight-line road

Out in the middle Of a thick forest

Unless somebody Was hiding something

And they didn't want you To know what was going on

In that thick forest.

Narrator: the unexplained scar Lies 150 miles

Northwest of milwaukee.

It stretches for An incredible 40 miles

In a dead-straight line.

Straight lines in nature Are very rare,

So you'd assume That this is man-made.

Narrator: if this vast, Straight clearing is man-made,

It represents a truly Monumental effort.

That seems weird to me.

Narrator: meteorologist Rebecca schuld takes to the sky

To get a closer look At the phenomenon.

Narrator: Initial aerial inspection Offers no explanation

For why a 40-mile strip Of forest has vanished.

Someone or something Has made the trees disappear.

Schuld: it does make you wonder, Is there something top secret?

Narrator: Similar sized clearings In other forested areas

Around the world can sometimes Indicate the presence

Of a hidden airstrip For military

Or intelligence uses.

This one in costa rica Was used by the cia

To smuggle weapons and drugs

Before being abandoned In the 1980s.

This image shares Some of the characteristics

Of a runway cut into the forest,

But why would it Ever need to be so long?

The length of the runway implies Some sort of military use,

Which could support The covert ops theory.

Long runways Mean big aircraft.

But the longest runway In the world

Is only about 3 1/2 miles long.

This is 40 miles long.

But aerial inspection Of the scar

Rules out the airstrip theory.

Narrator: What could cause destruction

Like this on such A massive scale

And do it in a straight line 40 miles long?

Narrator: the damage Appears too random

To be man-made.

That means the enormous scar

Must have been caused By a natural phenomenon

Of unimaginable Destructive power.

Kourounis: one of the clues That really speaks to me

Is that the line goes From southwest to northeast,

And in north america, The vast majority

Of our weather systems move From southwest to northeast,

And that's a big clue.

Narrator: The carnage on the ground

Has all the hallmarks Of a tornado.

Winds up to 300 miles per hour Have been known

To leave a trail of destruction Stretching up to 70 miles long,

But tornadoes this powerful

Wouldn't normally strike So far north.

The tornado alley region Of the u.S. Basically extends

From northern texas Up into the dakotas,

But wisconsin Is not immune.

They get their fair share Of tornadoes.

Narrator: The wisconsin location

Doesn't completely rule out The tornado theory,

But tornadoes typically weave Their way across the landscape.

Tornadoes are vortexes, They are spinning air,

But they're driven By the movement

Of the severe thunderstorm, And the severe thunderstorm

Is generally going to travel In one direction.

So even though the tornado Itself is rotating,

The storm is moving In a straight line,

And so, on occasion,

Mother nature can create A straight line row of damage.

Narrator: Meteorological data from when The scar first appeared

Offers a clue.

Atmospheric scientist Steve miller identifies

A potential suspect For the destruction.

Miller: the 2007 tornado Over the wisconsin area

Was a large storm, A large tornado,

With wind speeds around 160 miles per hour.

Fully capable Of lifting trees.

Narrator: miller zeros in On the twister's path

As it tore through The wilderness.

This time, wisconsin Residents got lucky.

The twister of 2007 Wreaked its devastating path

Avoiding densely Populated areas,

Potentially saving Hundreds of lives.

Now, when you zoom in On the imagery,

You can see that The storm is rotating,

And at the center Of that rotation

Is where we'd expect That tornado.

That tornado lines up Perfectly with that scar

That we saw across the forest.

Narrator: a surveillance Satellite orbits above

The frozen wastes of siberia,

Looking down on earth's oldest And largest freshwater lake.

It captures a bizarre image Of hundreds of icy circles.

This is trippy.

Trippy is a pretty good word.

Very geometric.

Brand: it seems that the circles Begin in the center, very small,

And then get larger and larger

In a circular pattern Out to the edges.

It's very strange.

Narrator: march 2010.

A satellite image Taken over russia

Reveals something Extraordinary --

A massive spiral of 108 perfect circles.

The weirdest aspect Of this image

Is the change in the size Of these circles.

Narrator: the image is captured Over southern siberia

On the frozen waters Of lake baikal.

It's one of the most Remote areas in the world.

During the soviet era,

Westerners were banned From visiting here.

The circular features Certainly don't make me think

Of an ice-covered lake.

They don't seem Like they belong.

I have no idea Why these are here.

Narrator: the circles Forming the spiral

Range from 1.5 feet To several miles in diameter.

In total, they cover 18 square miles.

Kourounis: this is snow, And you can see the clear ice.

But then there's these Mysterious circles,

And that's the thing That is most striking.

It almost looks as if They're erupting

From a natural central point In the lake.

Narrator: In exceptionally cold regions, Freak atmospheric conditions

Can sometimes combine to produce Perfect circles of ice.

An ice circle is A natural phenomena

Created in a portion of the lake

That is a small eddy That's rotating.

Sometimes, the center Of that eddy

Can have a little mass of ice.

Well, as it spins, it's cooling The water down right next to it

So that new ice forms On the edges of the disc,

And if the water Conditions are perfect,

That new ice creates A slightly bigger disc,

And as it Continues to rotate

And cool the water down,

It can become A rather large disc

Rotating in a very still lake,

And it's one of the coolest Natural phenomenons

That I've ever Seen pictures of.

Narrator: Ice circles appear naturally In lakes and rivers,

But they only form In flowing water.

Lake baikal's waters Are deathly still.

Cerveny: Generally when we're looking At lakes that have ice circles,

We're only going to find one Or at most maybe two.

We're certainly not Going to see the kind of

Complex pattern Of ice circles

Of varying sizes forming Their own particular patterns.

The complexity of this image Is simply too much

To be explained By ice circles.

Narrator: Something else is happening

In the frozen waters Of lake baikal.

In 2005, astronaut Leroy chiao was onboard

The international space station

When he saw something On the lake

Which could shed light On the mystery.

I saw a part of a circle, And at the time,

I assumed it was some kind of A natural phenomenon,

Maybe geothermal, Something like that.

Brand: Hydrothermal vents are known To exist beneath lake baikal.

Essentially what happens Is water

Will percolate Deep into the crust

Where the rock is much hotter

And will heat up and rise As a pillar of warm water.

For lake baikal, Covered in a sheet of ice,

This could cause Thinning of the ice

As the hot water Hits the bottom

Of the ice cap.

Narrator: A hydrothermal vent could Explain the appearance of

A single circle Of thinning lake ice,

But the aerial image Shows 108 circles.

It doesn't make sense that There would be so many circles

And so many hydrothermal vents, Especially under lake baikal.

It's extremely unlikely That this huge amount

Of circles Has anything to do

With hydrothermal activity In the lake.

Narrator: for centuries, The local buryat tribe

Have passed down tales

Of strange creatures Living in lake baikal.

Some have speculated They could be responsible

For the circles.

This lake is shrouded in mystery

With all kinds Of strange sightings.

The lake is said to house A giant monster.

But even if you believe in that,

How could it create This series of strange circles?

It's the oldest lake on earth

And it's also the largest And deepest lake on earth.

Narrator: the cold, Deep water houses creatures

Unseen anywhere else In the world.

The vast depths Are unexplored.

But the precise shapes Of the 108

Geometric circles Make investigators

Suspect they must Be man-made.

To see this elaborate A pattern is something

That we generally don't find

In large-scale patterns Of the earth.

It's a little too symmetrical For my taste.

It tells me that What we're looking at

Is really hard To make in nature

But might be more the result Of something that man has done.

Narrator: for someone To make these circles,

They would have to Go out on the ice

In temperatures of minus 40 Degrees fahrenheit.

Someone made a real effort To create this, but why?

Narrator: one man may have The answer to the mystery.

Artist jim denevan is famous For his innate ability

To form large, Perfect circles.

Denevan: I can make A pretty perfect circle

All the way to the cliff

And it would take me 13 minutes

And I would arrive At the same place.

It's from years And years of experience.

And the completion of a circle Is very powerful.

Narrator: In 2010, the maverick artist Braved the siberian wilderness

To fulfill a dream.

Denevan: I wanted to make The world's biggest drawing,

And lake baikal was The best place to do it.

I made a spiral of circles Which grew in a ratio.

108 circles.

The first circle is the size Of a dinner plate.

They get larger And larger and larger,

They spiral, And the largest circle

Is almost 10 miles In circumference.

It's as big as a city.

Narrator: Over 15 days and nights, Denevan and a team of artists

Carved the complex geometric Spiral onto the lake ice.

That's a lot of work,

Shoveling ice in Subzero temperatures.

I guess suffering for your art Is worthwhile,

Especially if it can Be seen from space.

Narrator: the baikal circles Are the first-ever artwork

Specifically created to be Photographed by satellite.

These kind of patterns Are best viewed from the air.

Only from being up above Do you get to see the beauty

And the intricacy Of these markings.

Denevan: part of the reason That I made a drawing

That can be seen from space Was it hadn't been done

And I knew I could do it.

And also, I do artwork That's ephemeral.

It doesn't last.

Narrator: today, Denevan openly admits

To carving the circles On lake baikal,

But the methods he used In their creation

Remain a closely guarded secret.