'Ice pancakes' form on River Dee in Aberdeenshire

The River Dee in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, has provided a spectacular winter scene with the formation of hundreds of "ice pancakes".

These strange formations are known as 'ice pancakes' but look like a fleet of flying saucers.

The River Dee in Aberdeenshire provided a spectacular winter scene, with freezing weather causing the pancakes to form overnight.

The discovery was made by members of The River Dee Trust at Lummels Pool at Birse in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.

The phenomenon is thought to happen when foam floating on the water's surface starts to freeze and bump together.

The pancakes - more commonly seen in the Antarctic - then grow bigger as more and more foam appears.

Joanna Dick, from The River Dee Trust, said: "What we think happened is foam floating about on the water started to freeze, probably at night.

These strange formations are known as 'ice pancakes' but look like a fleet of flying saucers.

The River Dee in Aberdeenshire provided a spectacular winter scene, with freezing weather causing the pancakes to form overnight.

The discovery was made by members of The River Dee Trust at Lummels Pool at Birse in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.

The phenomenon is thought to happen when foam floating on the water's surface starts to freeze and bump together.

The pancakes - more commonly seen in the Antarctic - then grow bigger as more and more foam appears.

Joanna Dick, from The River Dee Trust, said: "What we think happened is foam floating about on the water started to freeze, probably at night.

"Bits of frozen foam got swirled around in an eddy, and became roughly circular.

"Perhaps each disc grew when smaller pieces of unfrozen foam struck the disc, adhered and then froze in place."

It is believed that when temperatures were colder during the night they grew in size and after daybreak they softened.

When the 'pancakes' collided with each other their sides were pushed up to create a bowl like rim"

The circular formations are often seen in the Antarctic and the Baltic Sea.

Joanna added: "This is the first time we have seen them on the River Dee.

"They are a rare occurrence and conditions have to be right for them to form."

From CBBC newsround 

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Mirror-http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/weather-bomb-causes-spectacular-ice-4832197