Ultraviolet corona discharges on treetops during storms

mlhpdx

Having lived in the PNW all my life, and worked closely with our friend Doug (the fir trees), this article brings up old mental images of otherwise healthy needles with browned (dead) tips in the crowns. Coincidence? Probably. Very cool phenomenon to catch visually.

colanderman

There is in fact no photograph of treetops glowing. There is a digital UV-wavelength video of the corona, and a visible-wavelength video of the trees. The paper [1] contains a sole picture with tiny circles indicating where the UV-video detected corona events, overlaid over a frame of the visible-wavelength video. The paper does also contain a video [2] which overlays a somewhat processed version of the UV video over the visible wavelength video, where UV photon events are indicated by decaying red dots. [1] https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2025GL11... [2] https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/action/downloadSuppl...

Lalabadie

Great time to read about St Elmo's Fire! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Elmo's_fire

wildylion

Storm troopers, but not the kind you'd expect.

calibas

I notice the article, the paper, and the "plain language" summary of the paper don't mention the common term for this phenomenon, St Elmo's fire.

imzadi

I've seen these images before, or some very similar images. So this is based on old photos or it has indeed been done before.

dreamlayers

What is new here? I thought corona discharges during storms had already been well known for a long time. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Elmo%27s_fire

ortusdux

It would be amazing if there was an electrical mechanism behind crown shyness. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crown_shyness

GolfPopper

Reading the article about the unknowns here, how the electrical field interacts with the trees, and what role the produced hydroxyl plays in the atmosphere, makes me think about how daunting the idea of building a sustainable, human-friendly ecosystem off-Earth is.

brador

Will head hair on humans do this too?

antimora

> “This just goes to show that there’s still discovery science being done,” said McFarland, lead author on the paper. “For more than half a century, scientists have theorized that corona exists, but this proves it.” "proves it" ?? What kind of science is that?

chankstein38

I once was about 30-50ft from where lightning struck, standing on my porch looking towards my neighbors' house. I didn't see the actual strike happen but I did feel my hair stand on end and then see basically this coming off of the leaves reaching up towards the sky. Little purple tentacles all reaching upwards. But then I got to the point in the article where they seemed to explain this wasn't visible to the naked eye.... What did I see?

867-5309

> They chose the Sunshine State because of its propensity to produce frequent thunderstorms made me giggle

culi

Fun fact. Lightning strikes stimulate fungi to produce more mushrooms. Some shiitake and nameko cultivators in Japan have started using electrical shockwaves and gotten dramatically improved yields (sometimes over 200%). Interestingly enough the idea came from Japanese folklore rather than this science It's possible that this is an evolved response. Lightning hitting a tree will turn it into bark which is an excellent medium for white rot fungi. Lots of mushrooms might maximize the chance to get your spores there. Alternatively, it might mean you're dying soon and should seed out while you can. We think of lightning strikes as rare events but when it comes to late-successional trees, they are actually one of the main disturbances. Some trees like Dipteryx oleifera have shown fascinating adaptations to lightning strikes. This tree is highly resistant to its negative effects and promotes the growth of many lianas (woody vines) that make it so when the tree is struck, so are many of its neighbors. After being struck it shows dramatically increased growth to outgrow its now-damaged neighbors

dlcarrier

The lines about oxidizers cleaning the air reminds me of the aspects of late 1800's and early 1900's product marketing oversimplifying hygiene. Bleach everything, whether it needs it or not; anything that indiscriminately kills all bacteria can only make the world a better place!

subw00f

Reminds me of Hyperion Tesla trees.