Floating water circulator

Abstract

A floating water circulator (FWC) expels water at or near a water surface, providing kinetic energy, mixing, and/or temperature destratification while retarding formation of ice and/or insect reproduction in bodies of water with varying depth and/or debris, and while consuming significantly less power than a heater. An FWC includes a float configured to maintain buoyancy, allowing the FWC to rise and fall with water elevation. An FWC may provide shallow water operation. A pump may be configured to pump subsurface water from the body of water into a distributor. The distributor may be configured to receive, distribute and discharge the pumped water in multiple directions at or near the water surface through a plurality of outlets located in a side and/or a bottom of the FWC to ripple the water surface while suppressing/inhibiting splashing that may disturb livestock or induce freezing. FWC operation may be adaptable to deployment conditions.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.