Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water… it’s the Return of the Alien Civilization!

If you’ve been a reader for a while you’ll remember the original Alien Civilization post, where people were arguing about the reasons for the strange images for months on end. In fact they only stopped when Google updated the images, and a very ordinary lake replaced the crazily-coloured pattern that had been there before.

This new Alien Civilization is actually a lake in the Austrian Alps, and quite probably frozen. In fact you can actually see skiers and snowboarders on top of the nearby Penken mountain - which is the first time I’ve seen a wintertime ski-resort in high-resolution (and has the added bonus that I was actually there in 2005!).

Thanks to MAX.