Post by EZ Lorenz 🇺🇸 📸

Takahē

137d

I’ve been fascinated with these rare ice formations, called HAIR ICE for some time. Today finally I found some on our hike in a hilly wooded area, inaccessible on foot, so I zoomed in with my telephoto…

#Washington #PNW #Nature #HairIce #Photography #Outdoors #GetOutside #Forest #Woods #Fungus #Fungi #Environment

Rare ice formations on rotting wood, called Hair ice.

“How does hair ice form?

The conditions required for the formation of hair ice are extremely specific, hence the relative scarcity of sightings. To form, moist rotting wood from a broadleaf tree is required with the presence of moist air and a temperature slightly below 0 °C. It is generally confined to latitudes between 45°N and 55°N.

In 2015 the scientists Hofmann, Mätzler and Preuß determined the exact cause of the hair ice phenomenon, linking its formation to the presence of a specific fungus called Exidiopsis effusa.

They discovered that the presence of the fungus led to a process called 'ice segregation'. When water present in the wood freezes it creates a barrier that traps liquid between the ice and the pores of the wood. This creates a suction force which pushes water out of the pores to the edge of the ice surface where it freezes and extends outwards. As this repeats it pushes a thin 'hair' of ice out of the wood which is around 0.01 mm in diameter.”

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Edited 137d ago

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