Did you see the three circular spots that appear in the image above? Calmly we'll include a better photo below, showing the whole area, but they were spotted in the Arctic during a flyover by NASA scientists on a space agency research aircraft in mid-April. Check out:

(Earth Observatory / NASA)

Mysterious holes

More specifically, scientists were conducting observations for the annual survey of the poles when they spotted such spots. They actually consist of three holes that were discovered in a frozen region of the Beaufort Sea - north of Alaska and the Northwest and Yukon Territories of Canada - and, according to John Sonntag, one of the researchers, confessed. involved in the study, he does not recall seeing anything like it before.

No one can say for sure what the holes are or how they formed. But of course there are theories! And if you are expecting to read that they were created by some unknown creature - terrestrial or extraterrestrial -, beings inhabiting the center of the earth or a mysterious cataclysmic phenomenon, we are sorry to inform you that the most “coherent” alternative presented so far is not especially fabulous or fantastic. Pity, right?

Theories

Did you notice that the holes are relatively circular and have a radial area at the edges? As some scientists have observed, one possibility is that they were reared upwards by seals that were making their way through the ice sheet to breathe on the surface.

Ringed Seal (Wikimedia Commons / NOAA Fisheries)

This type of behavior is common in some species, which open holes when moving swimming under the ice sheets. In fact, there is one species in particular, the ringed seal ( Pusa hispida ), which is endowed with powerful claws and has been observed opening holes through more than two meters of ice.

Regarding the radial spots that can be seen around the holes, scientists have a theory for them too! They believe that by being able to break the ice and swim to the surface, the seals would have pushed seawater through the opening - which spread around and eventually melted the snow and froze again.

Another proposed possibility is that the holes were created due to convection movement - which brings warmer sea currents to the surface, melting the ice. Both options are valid, but scientists have not yet determined what exactly created the curious openings. And you, dear reader, have any guesses?

Check out some related articles:

• Was this the image of an alien ship that collided near Antarctica?
• Antarctica's Blood Waterfall Mystery Has Finally Been Solved
• Pyramidal structure in Antarctica would be the work of aliens?

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