Various active species can be formed by a pulsed discharge in water, and these active species may play an important role in killing bacteria and degrading organic compounds. In recent years, interest in the formation of OH, O 3 and H 2 O 2 has grown enormously. The O is also a very powerful oxidant, but little research has been done on the oxygen radical. In this paper, production of atomic oxygen by the pulsed streamer corona discharge in water has been identified. The effects of applied voltage polarity, peak voltage, oxygen and inert gases bubbling on radical formation have been investigated.Keywords: oxygen radical; pulsed discharge in water; peak voltage; gas bubbling.Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Sun, B., Zhang, L. and Sato, M. (2008) 'Characteristics of atomic oxygen produced by a pulsed streamer corona discharge', Int.