Crown Flash

A crown flash is a rare weather phenomenon . A bundle of light that moves back and forth becomes visible at the top of a storm cloud.

The phenomenon was first described and named in an article in Nature magazine in 1971 . The best explanation currently is that ice crystals in the vicinity of the thunderstorm align themselves with its electromagnetic field and direct the sunlight in the direction of the observer. Lightning in a thunderstorm changes the electromagnetic field and thus the alignment of the crystals. This means that the condition for deflecting the light from the sun to the observer is given for other ice crystals and the bundle of light seems to move back and forth. Since the phenomenon is only visible from certain points, it is rarely observed.

A phenomenon that is similar in appearance and word and is also rare is the corona , ring-shaped rays in some polar lights .

Web links

• Youtube video of a Crown Flash

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• Article by the German Weather Service on Crown Flash
• Maurice E. Graves, John C Gall: Possible Newly Recognized Meteorological Phenomenon called Crown Flash . In: Nature . 229, pp. 184-185. bibcode : 1971Natur.229..184G . doi : 10.1038 / 229184b0 . PMID 16059137 .
• Maurice E. Graves, John C. Gall, Bernard Vonnegut: Meteorological Phenomenon called Crown Flash . In: Nature . 231, No. 5300, 1971, p. 258. bibcode : 1971Natur.231Q.258G . doi : 10.1038 / 231258a0 . PMID 16062656 .