All language subtitles for What.on.Earth.S03E05.1080p.DSCP.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-BTN_track3_[eng]

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.