Extraño pelo de hielo - Exidiopsis effusa - Hair ice

Nature never ceases to amaze us. Years ago, during the winter months, with sub-zero temperatures, I would walk through beech forests and be amazed to see tufts of incredibly fine ice hairs. It was something I had never seen before. I took many photos, and that was that. But later I learned that in 2015 a team led by Christian Mätzler published a study on this phenomenon, experimentally confirming that it was due to a substance produced by a fungus found inside branches called Exidiopsis effusa. "Ice hair" is a very rare natural phenomenon that occurs when the fungus Exidiopsis effusa interacts with dead wood under very specific cold and humid conditions. When the ambient temperature is slightly below 0°C and there is humidity, the water inside the branches begins to freeze. Normally, a compact layer forms on the surface of the branch, but the presence of this fungus changes everything. The fungus Exidiopsis effusa lives inside dead branches, in our case beech, decomposing wood components and producing substances that prevent ice crystals from clumping together and growing normally, forming a layer. Thanks to this, the ice begins to grow individually in each pore of the branch, forming extremely fine filaments about 0.01 mm in diameter, like silky white hairs. The collection of filaments resembles a large tuft of white hair. In other words, the fungus doesn't create the ice, but it controls how it crystallizes, and curiously, when the fungus dies, these ice filaments no longer form. This phenomenon usually occurs at night, in my case with temperatures around -3°C, high humidity, and no wind, and it lasts until the sun's rays begin to warm the ground. However, if the temperature and humidity remain within these parameters, the ice filaments can persist for days. I usually find these ice hair tufts in north-facing beech trees (shady beech trees), on small branches without bark. English "Ice hair" is a very rare natural phenomenon that occurs when the fungus Exidiopsis effusa interacts with dead wood under very specific cold and humid conditions. When the ambient temperature is slightly below 0°C and there is humidity, the water inside the branches begins to freeze. Normally, a compact layer forms on the surface of the branch, but the presence of this fungus changes everything. The fungus Exidiopsis effusa lives inside dead branches, in this case beech, decomposing wood components and producing substances that prevent the ice crystals from clumping together and growing normally, forming a layer. Thanks to this, the ice begins to grow individually in each pore of the branch, forming extremely fine filaments about 0.01 mm in diameter, like silky white hairs. And the collection of filaments resembles a large tuft of white hair. The fungus Exidiopsis effusa lives inside dead branches, in this case beech, decomposing wood components and producing substances that prevent the ice crystals from clumping together and growing normally, forming a layer. Thanks to this, the ice begins to grow individually in each pore of the branch, forming very fine filaments about 0.01 mm in diameter, like silky white hairs. And the collection of filaments looks like a large tuft of white hair. In other words, the fungus doesn't create the ice, but it controls how it crystallizes, and interestingly, when the fungus dies, these ice hairs no longer form. This phenomenon usually occurs at night, in my case with temperatures around -3°C, high humidity, and no wind, and it lasts until the sun's rays begin to warm the ground. But if the temperature and humidity remain within these parameters, the ice hairs persist for days. I typically find these tufts of ice hair in north-facing beech forests (shady beech forests), on small, barkless branches. Basque "Izotz-ilea" bear natural phenomenon arraroa da, Exidiopsis effusa onddoak zur hilarekin elkarreragiten duenean gertatzen dena. Turn-temperature 0º C-tik beherakoa denean eta hezetasuna dagoenean, izotza banaka hazten hasten da adarreko poro bakoitzean, eta harizpi fin-finak eratzen ditu, 0.01 mm-koak. Deutsch. „Eishaar“ ist ein sehr seltenes Naturphänomen, das entsteht, wenn der Pilz Exidiopsis effusa mit totem Holz interagiert. Bei Temperaturen knapp unter 0 °C und entsprechender Luftfeuchtigkeit beginnt das Eis in jeder Pore des Astes einzeln zu wachsen and bildet dabei extrem feine Fäden von etwa 0.01 mm Länge. Netherlands "IJshaar" is one zeer zeldzaam natuurlijk verschijnsel dat optreedt want de schimmel Exidiopsis effusa in contact komt met dood hout. Wanneer de omgevingstemperatuur iets onder 0°C ligt en er sprake is van luchtvochtigheid, begint het ijs zich afzonderlijk in elke porie van de tak te vormen, waardoor extreem fijne filamenten van ongeveer 0.01 mm ontstaan.