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Submarine Lightwheels / Light Wheels / Water Wheels

Justin Anstey said:
Why do we never hear about subterranean lightwheels?

I'm thinking along the lines of a terra firma equivalent manifesting as crop circles, but the presence of organic matter in samples kinda rules this out, unless lightwheels are natural bioluminescence being moderated by electromagnetic fields or ultra low/high frequency sound waves viz. their presence around boats and ships, and basic crop circles being caused by plasma (ball lighting energy) modulated by electromagnetism or vortices in the same way.

Does anyone know of research into the stimulation of bioluminescent plankton with electro-magnetism/ infrasound? Appreciate comments.
 
Hi,
I know that on a night dive if you turn your lantern out
then swish your hands about, it leaves bizarre light trails
that die out in seconds.
It seems that rapid movement agitates the bioluminecent
particles (plankton type stuff) in the water.
 
Thanks for your comments greenhell. Your observations are quite right, phosphorescence often being seen at the crest of waves and in ships wakes. Have you ever noticed geometric patterns such as wheels and spokes in the luminescence? Have you noticed anything with regard to your equipment, paricularly metal parts or watches?
 
Hi Tubal,
I cant say ive ever noticed - i think iwould if it affected metal as
most of the important bits of kit are: stainless steel; brass;
titanium; lead; aluminium. As for the electrics, i only carry a wrist-
mounted computer (wich runs on watch batteries) and a large
halogen lantern (nickel-metal hydride) nothing high frequency
or producing vibration of any kind.
Are the light wheels sighted from above the water?
It could be predatory fish or mammals - some of wich use
sophisticated pack hunting techniques such as "bubble netting"
wich could explain the wheel formations.
 
Sorry for the terrible english/grammar but i have difficulty writing. That last post took half-hour!
 
No worries on the grammar front!
What you say about the sharks etc is interesting. Do dolphins, whales or sharks use a type of sonar? In some cases of lightwheels they seem to be linked to sonar and radar, sometimes the engines/ propellers. These observations vary from case to case tho'.
I think they are always seen from above the water, and in some of these cases are seen to be above the water by several feet or inches.
Their motion seems to correspond to that of the vessel.

BTW, I am spending some time in Lyme Regis and Charmouth, Dorset, over the next few weeks, places well known for their wrecks. If I hear any spooky tales around, I'll post them up in your thread.
 
Interesting piece on lightwheels in the sea (and a sneaky way of bumping this excellent topic):

Oceanic auroras

Mark Pilkington
Thursday April 1, 2004
The Guardian

It's often said that we know outer space better than the depths of our own oceans. Certainly they're home to some little-understood natural phenomena,

of which none is more dazzling than the lightwheels.
These spectacular submarine lightshows range in size from a few metres across to filling the entire visible ocean with phosphorescent colour. They take many forms: long, straight bands stretching across the horizon; simple rings and ellipses; concentric circles that pulsate from a brightly glowing centre; and curving, spoked wheels which rotate, sometimes at dizzying speeds. The displays can last a few minutes or several hours, with numerous patterns appearing in sequence, or even simultaneously.

The Marine Observer, the journal of the marine division of the Met Office, contains detailed reports of lightwheel observations going back more than a century; but no expeditions have set out specifically to study them.

Ordinary bioluminescent surface phenomena are seen most often in warmer waters like the Persian Gulf, the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea. Generally occurring between March and June, they consist of millions of micro-organisms and larger plankton that drift near the ocean surface. These micro-organisms glow when shaken or disturbed, lighting up the wakes and bow waves of ships, or the crests of waves, sometimes forming great milky blankets over the sea. Less common are balls of light and long worm-like shapes seen glowing underwater, as described by Thor Heyerdahl on his 1947 Kon-Tiki voyage; these have been attributed to shoals or large single fish moving among the luminous organisms.

But the huge rings and wheels appear more rarely, and their cause remains undetermined. Some have connected the pulsating signal-like patterns to the communications devices on ships and submarines, but lightwheel reports pre-date radar and sonar, even radio. Others have attributed the patterns to whale communication, tectonic movement, geomagnetic pulses from the earth's core or, more fancifully, to the beacons of a great submarine civilisation. We can guess, but we just don't know. Awe-inspiring and beautiful, unfilmed and unphotographed, the lightwheels remain an unfathomable mystery.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/farout/story/0,13028,1182753,00.html

Is it really true there are no pictures of this kind of thing? I know Mark Pilkington would know and I can't think I've seen any but I thought I'd ask.

Emps
 
Lightwheel phenomena is very well covered in an article in Volume 2 of Fortean Studies. I can post some salient details here if needed.
 
JerryB said:
Lightwheel phenomena is very well covered in an article in Volume 2 of Fortean Studies. I can post some salient details here if needed.

I thought we'd covered this and we can take it as read that I'll follow along behind you going: "Yep post that info!!"

Sooooooooo:

Yep post that info!!

:p

EMps
 
Lots of luminous stuff in the sea, when I used to go beach fishing at night sometimes the line would come back covered in tiny glowing blue dots, quite bizzare the first few times, then as usual you get used to it. !
 
Okay - well, the first thing to remember when talking about these light wheels is that they're not actually wheels! They lack a rim, and are thus moe like pinwheels. But these aren't the only light phenomena reported.

In FS Vol. 2, the article on lightwheels is by Michael T. Shoemaker. He points out that as well as lightwheels, there are also reports of 'milky' luminescent seas, patches of luminescence, as well as flashes of light and bands of light moving through the water. Wheels also can appear in groups, and some have contra-rotating 'spokes'. At the end of his article he lists 129 reports of this type of phenomena, be it 'wheels' or otherwise.

One of the more unusual reports he cites is from November 30th, 1951, seen in the Gulf of Oman from the ship British Premiere. When the ship's radar was turned on, 'boomerang-shaped arcs' appeared - on the starboard side, they rotated clockwise and richocheted towards and away from the ship. On the port side, this was reversed. No arcs appeared fore and aft of the ship. This effect disappeared once the radar was tuned off.

I can't realy do justice to the variety of reports included in the article, and of course can't type them all out here ;)
 
In his book, Gifts of Unknown Things, Lyall Watson mentions some weird submarine lights that formed a sort of catherine wheel formation - he suggests that they are communication attempts or sexual displays by squid.

There's a first-hand account of several sightings including his own experiences.

All very compelling - a very good read, though not as superb as Supernature IMO.
 
Not lightwheels but certianl odd glows in the sea (I can start a new thread if pople think it needs it):

Blue light sighted in sea

By Zaigham Ali Mirza

21 January 2006


DUBAI — An evening stroll on a strip of beach near Fujairah turned out to be once-in-a-lifetime experience for a Sri Lankan family, when the breaking waves glowed with an eerie blue light.

Seventeen-year-old Hassanain Anwar realised it was an unusual natural phenomenon and shot a video clip of the glowing waves.

"I saw there were no buildings or other sources of artificial light anywhere around, so it couldn't have been reflected light. The only explanation was that this was a case of natural luminescence," he told Khaleej Times.

The phenomenon was first spotted by a friend of Hassanain's father, but the group only saw it clearly enough after the twilight faded into night.

"He was the first one to see the glow and drew our attention to it, but we couldn't see it until it was a bit dark," Hassanain said.

Excited by the rare and unexplainable spectacle, the teenager pulled out his mobile phone and shot a video clip of the occurrence.

"My father's friend said it was too dark for the camera in the mobile phone to record it clearly, and he felt this thing was best viewed by the human eye. Luckily for me, the video is clearer than I had expected," he added.

The phenomenon, though not yet reported in the UAE, is unusual but not rare, according to local experts.

Marine biologists attribute the phenomenon of glowing waves to bioluminescence in a variety of marine fauna and flora.

According to a local biologist, the source of bioluminescence in the present case must be tiny plant like organism called dinoflagellates (phytoplanktons), a majority of which are plankton, and live in the sea. They live in the sea where they obtain energy from the sunlight during the day, and emit a bright blue light at night. The phenomenon was featured in the Leonardo Di Caprio's movie, The Beach.

Dr Reza Khan, Head of Dubai Municipality's Zoo section in Jumeirah, said that the phenomenon, also known as Red Tide, usually occurs following a spurt in the growth of a species of dinoflagellates, which depends on climatic conditions and marine environment.

"The phenomenon is not rare and has been reported before in Khor Dubai," he said, adding that the video clippings and photographs of the phenomenon he has seen were not taken locally.

Responding to a question on the toxic aspect of the phenomenon, Dr Khan said that some species of the unicellular organisms are known to be toxic and affect filter feeders such as shellfish. "To know if the bloom involves a toxic species, samples would have to be tested," he explained.

Human deaths due to consumption of shellfish in areas experiencing a red tide have been reported in many countries and a number of initiatives have been undertaken in these countries to prevent Red Tides.

Source
 
Underwater UFOs
Was it perhaps either Berlitz or Hynek that seemed to at least make some occasional mention in the 1970s of a potential USO phenomenon? I can't remember, it was always a much-rarer subset of the overall....experience.
 
Was it perhaps either Berlitz or Hynek that seemed to at least make some occasional mention in the 1970s of a potential USO phenomenon? I can't remember, it was always a much-rarer subset of the overall....experience.

Yes, indeed ... There's an obscure Fortean genre addressing unidentified submerged / subsurface / submarine objects and phenomena. The boundaries of this genre sometimes blur into cryptozoology and / or ufology. Unidentified s********** objects (USOs) are a sub-genre within ufology, motivated by the rare reports of UFOs entering or emerging from the seas.

See, for example:

Unidentified Submarine / Submerged Objects
https://forums.forteana.org/index.php?threads/usos-unidentified-submarine-submerged-objects.14395/

Having said that ... It's been a long time since I've run across any writer claiming the luminescent lightwheel phenomenon was or must be associated with UFO activity.
 
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