El Ojo

El Ojo (lit. 'The Eye') is an uninhabited circular rotating floating island located within a slightly larger circular lake in the Paraná Delta in the Buenos Aires Province, Argentina.[1]

This article is about a circular floating island in Argentina. For articles related to "eye", see Eye (disambiguation).
El Ojo
Aerial view of El Ojo island
El Ojo is located in Buenos Aires Province
El Ojo
Location in Buenos Aires Province
Geography
LocationParaná Delta
Coordinates34°15′08″S 58°49′48″W
Area13,924 m2 (149,880 sq ft)

Description

The island is unique among its floating counterparts as its shape is almost perfectly circular.[2][3] As the island is constantly rotating on its own axis due to the flow of the river beneath it, shearing occurs around its outer edge, eroding the island into its circular shape, similar to ice disks.[4][5] The island is approximately 118 m (387 ft) in diameter, though will get smaller over time as the erosion occurs. It is not yet known how or when the island was initially formed, with the first known Google Earth imagery being dated 2003.[6][7] The island was named because of its resemblance to an eye when viewed from above: as the island rotates within its surrounding crescent-shaped lake, the eye appears to move.[8][9] The island has been compared to a similarly shaped and rotating floating ice disk phenomenon observed in the Presumpscot River near Westbrook, Maine.[10][11]

El Ojo was discovered by Argentinian filmmaker Sergio Neuspiller and research has shown that the island has existed at least since 2003. In 2016, Neuspiller and hydraulic engineer Ricardo Petroni started crowdfunding an expedition to the island hoping to perform scuba diving, drone data collection, and soil and plant analysis; however, their fundraising attempts failed, reaching only US$9,898 of their US$50,000 goal. On 10 October 2016, Kickstarter eventually declared the fundraising campaign unsuccessful.[12]

References
  1. "El misterio de la isla argentina 'que se mueve'" [The mystery of the Argentinian island 'that moves']. El Observador (in Spanish). 2016-09-18. Archived from the original on 2023-09-26. Retrieved 2023-09-10.
  2. Fernández, Maximiliano. "El Ojo: la isla circular que se mueve sola en el Delta del Paraná" [El Ojo: the circular island that moves on its own in the Paraná Delta]. Infobae (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2019-01-30. Retrieved 2023-09-07.
  3. Vizzi, Florencia. "«El ojo», la misteriosa isla del Delta que esconde extraños enigmas" ["The eye", the mysterious island of the Delta that hides strange enigmas]. Diario Digital Conclusión (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2023-09-08. Retrieved 2023-09-08.
  4. "La isla del delta que no deber a existir: se llama "El Ojo" y tiene una historia misteriosa" [The island of the Delta that should not exist: named 'El Ojo' and has a mysterious history]. El Cronista (in Spanish). 2022-03-21. Archived from the original on 2023-09-08. Retrieved 2023-09-08.
  5. Baños Pozzati, Malena (2016-09-08). "A ilha que se move sozinha na Argentina" [The island that moves by itself in Argentina]. Clarin (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on 2023-09-08. Retrieved 2023-09-08.
  6. Porjolovski, Alejo (December 2016). "¿Fin del misterio?" [End of the mystery?]. DIA 32 (in Spanish). Archived from the original on March 28, 2023. Retrieved 2023-09-08.
  7. Wiemeyer, Federico (2020-01-08). "El ojo misterioso: una isla en el Delta donde suceden cosas extrañas" [The mysterious eye: an island in the Delta where strange things happen]. Todo Noticias (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2023-09-07. Retrieved 2023-09-07.
  8. "Una isla circular que rota sobre sí misma conmueve a la comunidad científica" [A circular island that rotates on itself moves the scientific community]. www.infofueguina.com (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2023-09-26. Retrieved 2023-09-10.
  9. Márquez, Enrique (September 15, 2016). "El secreto del misterioso círculo del Delta al descubierto" [The secret of the mysterious Delta circle revealed]. InfoVeloz.com (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2023-09-26. Retrieved 2023-09-11.
  10. "El Ojo". ETA BETA Magazine (in Italian). 2021-04-30. Archived from the original on 2023-09-26. Retrieved 2023-09-26.
  11. Danielle, Monica (January 17, 2022). "Incredibly cool, spinning ice disc is back and drawing onlookers again". AccuWeather. Archived from the original on September 6, 2023. Retrieved September 6, 2023.
  12. Guillen, Marina (September 18, 2016). "El misterio de la isla argentina 'que se mueve', objeto de una investigación" [The mystery of the Argentine island 'that moves', object of investigation]. El Nuevo Herald (in Spanish). Archived from the original on October 3, 2023. Retrieved September 7, 2023.
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