Overview
- The peer‑reviewed findings appear in Geophysical Research Letters and document direct field observations of corona discharges on tree leaves.
- Researchers recorded 41 ultraviolet flashes from leaf tips in 90 minutes at a Pembroke, North Carolina site, with events lasting up to three seconds and sometimes hopping between leaves.
- The team observed similar behavior across multiple species and storms along the U.S. East Coast, indicating the phenomenon is likely widespread yet too faint for unaided human vision.
- Detection relied on a modified Toyota Sienna outfitted with an electric field detector, weather station, laser rangefinder, and a roof‑mounted periscope feeding an ultraviolet camera.
- The discharges can burn leaf tips within seconds, laboratory work links repeated currents to cellular damage, and the researchers plan ecological studies to assess canopy‑scale impacts.