Daily Oracle:Triboluminescence: The Blue Avalanche Phenomenon

Nice synchronicity with Crystal Tone 12 today on the Blue Avalanche article.

SOMETHING FLARE-Y THIS WAY COMES: Yesterday, a sunspot hidden behind the sun’s northeastern limb produced an M9-(almost-X)-class solar flare. Today, the same sunspot is revealing itself, right here. It is clearly capable of strong explosions, which may become geoeffective as the sunspot turns toward Earth later this week. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text

BLUE AVALANCHE LIGHTS IN CHINA: This might be something new. On the night of Oct. 27th, Chinese astrophotographer Shengyu Li set up his camera to record star trails over Mount Xiannairi in Sichuan, China. The long exposure had just begun when an icy serac broke free from a hanging glacier. Note the blue flashes within the ensuing avalanche:

We have not found any previously documented cases of such an event. This discovery is thrilling for us. It is also intriguing,” says Li. “Our initial hypothesis is that the luminescence may result from friction-induced lighting during the fragmentation of ice.”

The phenomenon is called “triboluminescence.” Legendary physicist Richard Feynman describes it effectively. He said, “Take a lump of sugar. Crush it with a pair of pliers in the dark. You can see a bluish flash.”Some other crystals do that too. Nobody knows why.” You can create triboluminescent flashes yourself by smashing Lifesavers.

The avalanche Li witnessed was rich in ice. “A blocky serac started it,” says Carson Reid, a mountaineer who analyzed Li’s movie. “It randomly calved from a glacier near the mountain’s peak.” “The serac would have fragmented as it tumbled down and smashed into natural obstacles.” The most significant “smash points” seem to have produced the most blue light.

Li shared his movie with other astrophographers in China. One of them found a similar blue flash in footage of a completely different mountain in Xinjiang, China three weeks earlier:

“This is a timelapse video taken by Ms. Lu Miao on Oct. 3rd,” says Li. “It also shows a blue flash during an avalanche.” The mountain is Muztagh Ata, which means “Iceberg Father” in English.

“None of us photographers noticed the blue light with our naked eyes. We discovered it later when reviewing the photos,” says Li. “However, I asked some friends who frequently photograph snow-capped mountains. One of them mentioned seeing blue light with the naked eye during an avalanche. They didn’t capture it on camera.”

Readers, are you aware of this phenomenon? We would welcome references to earlier sightings and/or documented research. Let us know!

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