# What causes this circular pattern in the Canadian Arctic?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-this-circular-pattern-in-the-canadian-arctic/825282>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 29, 2018, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-this-circular-pattern-in-the-canadian-arctic/825282 "2018-11-29T17:46:35Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![rat\_avatar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rat_avatar/32/255_2.png) [@rat\_avatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rat_avatar)\
**Post date:** [December 8, 2018, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-this-circular-pattern-in-the-canadian-arctic/825282/21 "2018-12-08T19:27:45Z")

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> [@Chronos](#):
>
> The hairy ball theorem is completely irrelevant, because the Earth has plenty of glacial “bald spots”.

We probably looking at different features at different scales, because that report is comprehensive and at following different cites.

Much of the island is dominated by highly convergent and divergent patterns of mega-scale glacial lineations. The path I followed related to ice streams and circulation near the shear-margins.

How it relates to a hairy ball theorem is that there must be at least one, nothing in the hairy ball theorem states there can’t be more than one.

But I may be mistaken and there is a large risk of inter-domain term conflicts.

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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [December 8, 2018, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-this-circular-pattern-in-the-canadian-arctic/825282/22 "2018-12-08T20:55:04Z")

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Yeah, nothing in the Hairy Ball Theorem says that there can’t be more than one discontinuity. But nothing in the Pythagorean Theorem says that, either. In other words, neither is at all relevant here.

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**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\
**Post date:** [December 8, 2018, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-this-circular-pattern-in-the-canadian-arctic/825282/23 "2018-12-08T23:34:53Z")

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Looking in the paper I linked to, its Figure 2 illustrates the area in question.

“Figure 2 Landsat ETM+ satellite image (R,G,B: 7,5,2) of glacial lineations in south-eastern  
Victoria Island. The top half of the image shows large mega-scale glacial lineations (MSGL)  
indicating flow from south to north (individual landforms highlighted with red arrows). The  
bottom half of the image shows smaller glacial lineations (drumlins) superimposed on the MSGL  
and indicating a younger ice flow from east to west (see inset).”

which may answer the OP.

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