TZUTC: -0500   
   MSGID: 363.fidonet_ufo@1:3634/60 2da685fc   
   PID: Synchronet 3.19b-Win32 master/a2a9dc027 Jan  2 2022 MSC 1928   
   TID: SBBSecho 3.14-Win32 master/a2a9dc027 Jan  2 2022 MSC 1928   
   BBSID: RICKSBBS   
   CHRS: UTF-8 4   
   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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