Quick thinking and flexibility allowed a group of Penn State researchers to capture lightning in a bottle…or something close to that.
The team revealed how it documented the weather phenomenon of corona discharges in a study published in the Geophysical Research Letters journal.
Corona discharges are an optical phenomenon wherein the area right above trees glows with ultraviolet light during thunderstorms. Though for 70 years scientists speculated that the treetops might be the source, that hadn't been established outside of a lab.
Enter the scientists, who in 2024 went to Florida with the goal of confirming the phenomenon. They chose the state for its frequent summer storms.
Nature had other plans, though. After they failed initially, a chance encounter in North Carolina proved to be a treasure trove.
On its trip back to the Keystone State, a thunderstorm took hold, and the team peeled off the road to a spot at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, where it captured 952 instances of coronae events on two trees.
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"This just goes to show that there's still discovery science being done," said Patrick McFarland, lead author of the paper, in a news release.
Corona discharges occur when strong negative charges form in clouds, drawing them to positive charges from the ground. The reaction culminates in treetops, which glow in ultraviolet and visible forms.
"It's nearly invisible to the naked eye, but our instruments give rise to a vision of swaths of scintillating corona glowing as thunderstorms pass overhead," McFarland said.
Beyond the visuals, it's possible corona discharges have greater impacts. The UV produces hydroxyl, the atmosphere's primary oxidizer, per the release.
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Oxidizers can clear out chemicals including volatile organic compounds and methane pollution produced by humans and trees, for example. That could be cleaning the air in forests.
"Such widespread coronae have implications for the removal of hydrocarbons emitted by trees, subtle tree leaf damage, and could have broader implications for the health of trees, forests, and the atmosphere," McFarland noted.
The researchers are set to get to work on the implications of corona discharges after establishing their existence.
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