Pac-Man Crop Circle
April 01, 2020
Photographer: Patrick Wiggins
Summary Author: Patrick Wiggins
Flying near Utah Lake (Utah) a few weeks back, I noticed this weird crop circle. It reminded me of the Pac-Man game from years ago. I observed it from the open window of a small aircraft flying approximately 1,000 m above the surface. Most of these circles have diameters of about 800 m, but this one has a huge bite taken out of it.
With central pivot irrigation, water is withdrawn from a single well in the center of a field, and the crop (likely in this case to be alfalfa or a feed crop of some kind) is watered as the pivot rotates around it, allowing the water to be evenly distributed. Moreover, less water is lost to evaporation with this method. Photo taken on February 4, 2020.