<p>Personally, I believe it to be an interpolation artifact. I have been looking at the land surface temperature (LST) from multiple satellites that have a resolution of 1km and there is nothing that I can see in that area.</p>
<p>Here is an example from MODIS Terra satellite
<a href="https://i.sstatic.net/r4VvO.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/r4VvO.jpg" alt="MODIS LST" /></a> Source <a href="https://neo.gsfc.nasa.gov/view.php?datasetId=MOD_LSTD_D&amp;date=2022-11-09" rel="nofollow noreferrer">MODIS</a></p>
<p>You can explore all their data directly from the <a href="https://neo.gsfc.nasa.gov/view.php?datasetId=MOD_LSTD_D&amp;date=2022-11-09" rel="nofollow noreferrer">NASA Earth Observations</a> site and you can play with the data there.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-01-12T03:38:07.370Z
2023-01-12T03:38:07.370Z
arkaia
<p>The diamond mine suggest by <a href="https://earthscience.stackexchange.com/questions/24673/what-is-this-warm-circle-in-the-middle-of-russia/24675#24675">this accepted answer</a> looks way too small.</p>
<p>Checkout <a href="https://earth.google.com/web/search/65.5857+N,+117.02636+E/@66.00929115,117.41656448,282.92292143a,42353.95740251d,35y,26.10045517h,0t,0r/data=CloaMBIqGRpR2ht8ZVBAIQt72uGvQV1AKhY2NS41ODU3IE4sIDExNy4wMjYzNiBFGAEgASImCiQJujzeo5VFUEAR230X9MFxS0AZ8RWc8zTiYUAhtClsyw3OXUA" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Ozero Eyik</a> instead.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-01-10T20:44:55.620Z
Your answer could be improved with additional supporting information. Please [edit] to add further details, such as citations or documentation, so that others can confirm that your answer is correct. You can find more information on how to write good answers [in the help center](/help/how-to-answer).
Community
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-01-10T21:29:01.513Z
Yes, please give more detail about why it seems too small (perhaps measure the distance in maps?), and how the Eyik could be a better explanation (and an idea of what Eyik is, as most reading will have no idea!)
JeopardyTempest
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-12-16T23:26:07.593Z
Oxero is in the wrong place on the map
John
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-01-19T13:09:50.347Z
Imagine an instant picture of some puff of hot air that is emitted as a ring from the center. The ring already grew to several kilometers in diameter, its excessive temperature lowered to several degrees, and the center is already cold. Such instant picture can be easily taken by a satellite infrared camera. Such puff can be produced by a centered artificial structure.
Gangnus
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-01-10T15:46:01.163Z
2023-01-10T21:28:02.693Z
2023-01-10T21:28:02.693Z
Greg Brown
<p>Interestingly, there is a pressure anomaly that corresponds with the temperature anomaly. The pressure of the spot is about 30 hPa lower that the surrounding region indicating a localized low pressure cell, suggesting that something on the surface is heating the atmosphere sufficiently to cause this.</p>
<p>By taking co-ordinates around the edge of the spot, east-west and north and south, and doing a bit of math, the average diameter of the spot is 215 km.</p>
<p>Taking the co-ordinates from your comment (65.5857 N, 117.02636 E) and looking at Google Earth, there is an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alrosa" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Alrosa</a> diamond mine at co-ordinates 65° 01’ 11” N, 117° 05’ 04” E (65.01972 N, 117.08444 E) that Google Earth does not list the name of.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/cQ8Fk.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/cQ8Fk.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
<p>Given the isolated nature of this mine my speculation is this mine is associated with the anomalous spot you noticed.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-12-19T04:40:59.607Z
This mine is already closed. [Alrosa Web Page](https://www.alrosa.ru/en/business/diamond-industry/) , so that anomaly shall be constant during the time, as mine stopped its production on 2015. It is Udachny Diamon Mine and Google Earth shows it, but in russian.
David García Bodego
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-01-19T13:12:30.367Z
Notice, that the structure by itself cannot explain the ring of the warmer air around it. I propose the addition to your answer. Imagine an instant picture of some puff of hot air that is emitted as a ring from the center. The ring already grew to several kilometers in diameter, its excessive temperature lowered to several degrees, and the center is already cold. Such instant picture can be easily taken by a satellite infrared camera. Such puff can be produced by the open mine. For example, an explosion.
Gangnus
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-12-26T10:54:52.813Z
2022-12-28T01:49:00.760Z
2022-12-28T01:49:00.760Z
Fred
<p>I noticed on World Weather Map over the last 2 days Russia has had an isolated circular warm spot which seems very uniform and hasn't changed for at least 2 days: <a href="https://map.worldweatheronline.com/temperature?lat=-3.337953961416472&amp;lng=79.62890625000001" rel="nofollow noreferrer">see here</a> and in below image.</p>
<p>Any ideas if this is a technical error or else some natural or man made phenomenon?</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/huCJ5.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/huCJ5.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
<p>EDIT: for clarity i am referring to this spot:
<a href="https://i.sstatic.net/H49r1.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/H49r1.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-12-27T00:27:56.057Z
It would be nice to have co-ordinates for the "spot of interest". I know it's near Yakustk, but were exactly where would be good to know. My initial suspicions are that it might be related to a large open pit mine, something like [Mirny (Мирный)](https://interestingengineering.com/science/mirny-a-giant-diamond-mine-that-sucks-helicopters-in) or  [Udachnyi (Удачный)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Udachny). I started writing an answer about this, but deleted it.
Fred
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-12-27T09:22:01.713Z
I would suspect it's an outlier; a single weather station reporting an erroneous measurement (possibly even on purpose) and interpolation doing the rest.  Is "World Weather Map" open about the data and methods going into the production of this map?
gerrit
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-12-27T22:18:12.247Z
@Fred clicking on the map add the coordinates of that point to the URL.  when i click on the point which seems warmest based on the hover text i get this: lat=65.58572002329473 lng=117.02636718750001.  does this help?
bobfossil
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-12-27T22:22:29.337Z
i looked nearby and found Udachnaya!
bobfossil
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-01-18T14:58:30.320Z
@gerrit If the problem area is in the anthropogenous landscape, I can easily imagine one working super-truck standing near the meteorological station for several minutes. It can easily change the observable temperature of ONE point. But the picture shows a cold point in the center and a warmer thick ring around it. That picture cannot be the result of interpolation.
Gangnus
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-01-18T21:02:57.667Z
@Gangnus Depends how they interpolate.
gerrit
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-01-19T13:02:15.277Z
@gerrit No correct algorithm of interpolation will give such a result. Even if you'd use some polynomial interpolation of higher degrees, it cannot give a ring area of higher and almost even temperature around a cold center..... 

Much more probable is an instant picture, when some puff of hot air is emitted as a ring from the center. The ring already grew to several kilometers in diameter, its excessive temperature lowered to several degrees, and the center is already cold. Such instant picture can be easily taken by a satellite infrared camera.
Gangnus
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-01-19T13:05:27.670Z
Also, this can be a picture of a circular cloud around a hill or around a lake. A cloud could have a temperature lower, or higher than the surrounding. Both variants are possible, depending on many conditions, for example, the height of the cloud, or if it is the source of a snowfall.
Gangnus
<meteorology><weather-satellites>
What is this warm circle in the middle of Russia?
bobfossil
# What is this warm circle in the middle of Russia?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2022-12-25)

I noticed on World Weather Map over the last 2 days Russia has had an isolated circular warm spot which seems very uniform and hasn't changed for at least 2 days: [see here](https://map.worldweatheronline.com/temperature?lat=-3.337953961416472&lng=79.62890625000001) and in below image.

Any ideas if this is a technical error or else some natural or man made phenomenon?

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/huCJ5.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/huCJ5.png)

EDIT: for clarity i am referring to this spot:
[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/H49r1.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/H49r1.png)

**Tags:** meteorology, weather-satellites

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: It would be nice to have co-ordinates for the "spot of interest". I know it's near Yakustk, but were exactly where would be good to know. My initial suspicions are that it might be related to a large open pit mine, something like [Mirny (Мирный)](https://interestingengineering.com/science/mirny-a-giant-diamond-mine-that-sucks-helicopters-in) or  [Udachnyi (Удачный)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Udachny). I started writing an answer about this, but deleted it.  
> **username_2**: I would suspect it's an outlier; a single weather station reporting an erroneous measurement (possibly even on purpose) and interpolation doing the rest.  Is "World Weather Map" open about the data and methods going into the production of this map?  
> **username_0**: @username_1 clicking on the map add the coordinates of that point to the URL.  when i click on the point which seems warmest based on the hover text i get this: lat=65.58572002329473 lng=117.02636718750001.  does this help?  
> **username_0**: i looked nearby and found Udachnaya!  
> **username_3**: @username_2 If the problem area is in the anthropogenous landscape, I can easily imagine one working super-truck standing near the meteorological station for several minutes. It can easily change the observable temperature of ONE point. But the picture shows a cold point in the center and a warmer thick ring around it. That picture cannot be the result of interpolation.  
> **username_2**: @username_3 Depends how they interpolate.  
> **username_3**: @username_2 No correct algorithm of interpolation will give such a result. Even if you'd use some polynomial interpolation of higher degrees, it cannot give a ring area of higher and almost even temperature around a cold center.....   Much more probable is an instant picture, when some puff of hot air is emitted as a ring from the center. The ring already grew to several kilometers in diameter, its excessive temperature lowered to several degrees, and the center is already cold. Such instant picture can be easily taken by a satellite infrared camera.  
> **username_3**: Also, this can be a picture of a circular cloud around a hill or around a lake. A cloud could have a temperature lower, or higher than the surrounding. Both variants are possible, depending on many conditions, for example, the height of the cloud, or if it is the source of a snowfall.  

---

## 3 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2022-12-26. Score: 4 | Accepted answer

Interestingly, there is a pressure anomaly that corresponds with the temperature anomaly. The pressure of the spot is about 30 hPa lower that the surrounding region indicating a localized low pressure cell, suggesting that something on the surface is heating the atmosphere sufficiently to cause this.

By taking co-ordinates around the edge of the spot, east-west and north and south, and doing a bit of math, the average diameter of the spot is 215 km.

Taking the co-ordinates from your comment (65.5857 N, 117.02636 E) and looking at Google Earth, there is an [Alrosa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alrosa) diamond mine at co-ordinates 65° 01’ 11” N, 117° 05’ 04” E (65.01972 N, 117.08444 E) that Google Earth does not list the name of.

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/cQ8Fk.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/cQ8Fk.png)

Given the isolated nature of this mine my speculation is this mine is associated with the anomalous spot you noticed.

> **Comments:**
> **username_9**: This mine is already closed. [Alrosa Web Page](https://www.alrosa.ru/en/business/diamond-industry/) , so that anomaly shall be constant during the time, as mine stopped its production on 2015. It is Udachny Diamon Mine and Google Earth shows it, but in russian.  
> **username_3**: Notice, that the structure by itself cannot explain the ring of the warmer air around it. I propose the addition to your answer. Imagine an instant picture of some puff of hot air that is emitted as a ring from the center. The ring already grew to several kilometers in diameter, its excessive temperature lowered to several degrees, and the center is already cold. Such instant picture can be easily taken by a satellite infrared camera. Such puff can be produced by the open mine. For example, an explosion.  

---

### Answer by username_4 on 2023-01-12. Score: 3

Personally, I believe it to be an interpolation artifact. I have been looking at the land surface temperature (LST) from multiple satellites that have a resolution of 1km and there is nothing that I can see in that area.

Here is an example from MODIS Terra satellite
[![MODIS LST](https://i.sstatic.net/r4VvO.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/r4VvO.jpg) Source [MODIS](https://neo.gsfc.nasa.gov/view.php?datasetId=MOD_LSTD_D&date=2022-11-09)

You can explore all their data directly from the [NASA Earth Observations](https://neo.gsfc.nasa.gov/view.php?datasetId=MOD_LSTD_D&date=2022-11-09) site and you can play with the data there.


---

### Answer by username_5 on 2023-01-10. Score: -1

The diamond mine suggest by [this accepted answer](https://earthscience.stackexchange.com/questions/24673/what-is-this-warm-circle-in-the-middle-of-russia/24675#24675) looks way too small.

Checkout [Ozero Eyik](https://earth.google.com/web/search/65.5857+N,+117.02636+E/@66.00929115,117.41656448,282.92292143a,42353.95740251d,35y,26.10045517h,0t,0r/data=CloaMBIqGRpR2ht8ZVBAIQt72uGvQV1AKhY2NS41ODU3IE4sIDExNy4wMjYzNiBFGAEgASImCiQJujzeo5VFUEAR230X9MFxS0AZ8RWc8zTiYUAhtClsyw3OXUA) instead.

> **Comments:**
> **username_6**: Your answer could be improved with additional supporting information. Please [edit] to add further details, such as citations or documentation, so that others can confirm that your answer is correct. You can find more information on how to write good answers [in the help center](/help/how-to-answer).  
> **username_7**: Yes, please give more detail about why it seems too small (perhaps measure the distance in maps?), and how the Eyik could be a better explanation (and an idea of what Eyik is, as most reading will have no idea!)  
> **username_8**: Oxero is in the wrong place on the map  
> **username_3**: Imagine an instant picture of some puff of hot air that is emitted as a ring from the center. The ring already grew to several kilometers in diameter, its excessive temperature lowered to several degrees, and the center is already cold. Such instant picture can be easily taken by a satellite infrared camera. Such puff can be produced by a centered artificial structure.  

---

