A mysterious artificial lake bottom on a tv commercial

[bettaMagenta]

Just caught a glimpse of that Explore Minnesota commercial and it's got me scratching my head - the part where the young girl surface dives into the lake, and you see the underwater view of the lake bed. It looks like sand with rocks scattered about, baseball-sized, and they're pretty evenly spaced, about a meter apart, as far as the eye can see. I'm having a hard time picturing how that could occur naturally - the uniform size of the rocks and the regular spacing just seems off. And I highly doubt some producer would go to the trouble of creating a fake lake bed that looks so... unnatural, especially for a commercial that's supposed to showcase Minnesota's natural beauty.

I rewound the commercial, and I'm still wondering - does that lake bottom look natural to anyone else?

[sageSe]

I've seen similar patterns in ocean habitats, where waves create repetitive patterns in the sand, leading to evenly spaced sand waves and possibly rocks. The forces at play can result in regularity, so it's not entirely impossible that the rocks are spaced out like that.

I'm not familiar with lakes, but Michigan's location near the Great Lakes, particularly Lake Superior, makes me think that similar wave and current dynamics might be at play. It's possible that an ocean-like wave-dominated sandy shore exists in one or more of the Great Lakes. What does raise my suspicions, though, is the water clarity – it seems unusually blue and clear.

While it's not entirely impossible that the lake bottom is natural, I agree that the clarity is unusual. However, I'd be surprised if they created an entire set for a commercial.

[coltin]

The rocks themselves aren't what's caught my attention - it's the way the light is filtering up through the sand that's really got me intrigued. I've never come across anything like that in a natural setting before. It's reminding me of those spray-on paving patterns, you know, the ones that resemble cobblestones, but this is definitely not something I've seen in the wild.

[Burgermuncher]

Done some fresh water snorkeling, seen similar conditions before. Not common, but doesn't look fake to me. The sand might have been added sometime in the past, but the rock pattern seems legit.

[bettaMagenta]

If it were supposed to be northern MN, maybe the sand is somewhat plausible, but I'm still skeptical. My boss has a cabin on one of the top recreational lakes in the state, and it has a really shallow, long beach front. A couple of years ago, when the lake was unusually low, he had to install a massive 1/4 mile boat dock just to reach deep enough water for normal-sized boats. That's not normal, and usually, he gets by with a much shorter dock, around 100-200 feet. Looking at that picture, it made me think that if you were to replicate that bottom in a bio tank, it would probably look fake.

[graye]

I've spent a lot of time floating over lake bottoms in my kayak, and I think it's possible for a lake to look like that. The water clarity, too, can vary depending on the season. I've seen some pretty clear water in my time on the lakes.

That being said, I wouldn't rule out the possibility that the whole thing was created with AI or that it's just a badly maintained pool. I'd be a lot more inclined to trust it if it were a guy in camo, dog paddling instead of that young woman.

[kokomo]

I think it's passable, the water in the distance seems decent.

[infold]

I'm not buying it, but I do wonder if this could be some sort of anomaly. I mean, we've all seen weird stuff in nature, right. I've seen some pretty wild rock formations in my time, but this one's got me stumped. I'm not saying it's not real, but I'm not saying it is either. It's just...off.

[Ceese]

I don't think it's entirely fabricated, but rather, it's probably been tweaked to pique interest – that's how things are presented nowadays. Advanced video editing tools are readily available and user-friendly, making it easy to enhance visuals.

I've had the chance to fish in numerous lakes in the Sierra Nevada mountains, and I can attest that the water clarity in those areas is truly exceptional. The constant flow of snowmelt and water circulation between lakes and streams contributes to the pristine condition of these alpine lakes. In some of these lakes, you can spot trout schooling at depths of 60 feet or more, depending on the time of day and sunlight. Lake Sabrina, in particular, boasts some of the clearest water I've ever seen, and it's not uncommon for other lakes in the region to share similar characteristics.

I believe the water temperature and flow play a significant role in determining the water clarity. For instance, Lake Crowley's visibility is poor during the summer months when the water warms up, and plant growth takes over. However, in other lakes with consistent flow and cooler temperatures, the water remains remarkably clear.

It's all about the specific conditions, and that's what makes traveling so captivating – different places hold unique treasures that might seem ordinary to some but extraordinary to others.