SUBJECT: CIRCLE EXPLAINATION FILE: UFO1223
LONDON (UPI) -- International experts said the mysterious crop circles
appearing in Britain and around the world are the work of Mother Nature, not
aliens from outer space or pranksters, according to a report published
Sunday.
The newspaper Independent on Sunday said speakers at the first
international conference in Oxford on the phenomena of crop circles said
weather and topography cause the flattened circles which suddenly appear in
fields.
'They seem to form in conditions of warm days and cold nights when a
temperature inversion is established,' said Terence Meaden, head of Britain's
Tornado and Storm Research Organizaion.
Meaden was one of 150 scientists and UFO enthusiasts at the Circles Effect
Phenomena Conference. Several other experts put forth other meteorological
and topographical theories on the causes of the mysterious circles.
The circles, nearly perfectly round and ranging from a few yards wide to
half the length of a football field, appear overnight during the crop-growing
season. Sometimes their arrival is accompanied by noises and lights, witnesses
have said.
More than 200 have been sighted in Britain this year, most in English corn
fields, the newspaper said. Their unexplained appearances and varied patterns
have led to a variety of popular theories. UFO fans offered them as proof of
extraterrestrial landings a decade ago. Others said drunken farmers or
pranksters were to blame.
But Mead and the other scientists said they believed the cause was much
more down to earth. Meaden said the circles form when a layer of cool air
becomes trapped under warmer air.
A 'trailing vortex' develops in the form of a column of rapidly spinning
air, Meaden said. When the vortex settles in a field, it sweeps out a ring of
damage as it expands.
John Snow, a professor at Purdue University in Indiana and Tokio Kikuchi
of Kochi University in Tokyo said that the humming and bright lights witnesses
report are the product of electrical charges built up by the friction inside
the air columns.
The mystery surrounding the circles encouraged some scientists to become
crop circle experts and has drawn hundreds of circle spotters to tour
farmlands. Farmers have complained of trampled crops left by the spotters.
The circles were mentioned in 17th century accounts and have been found in
the United States, France, Australia and Japan as well as in Britain. England
may have more of the circles because of the combination of the weather fronts
and land features, experts said.
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