In regions I and II, we correlated the fluctuations in the current with the dynamic formation and collapse of the electrode-electrolyte interface, where higher currents are observed when the electrode is in contact with the electrolyte. In region III, the fluctuation in the current is comparably smaller (see Fig. ). Nevertheless, fluctuations are still observed, as shown in Fig. (blue trace), which can not simply be related to changes in the vapor layer thickness from comparing individual images. Considering that the vapor layer has a negligible conductivity, all current must pass through the discharges, and the current correlates with their intensity, which was suggested previously. Thus, one would expect the current to be larger for times with stronger total emission. Note that the total intensity is, in the case of predominantly line radiation, linearly proportional to the electron density and shows exponential dependence on the electron temperature or mean electron energy. Hence, an increased current partly corresponds to an increased emission. In the case of a constant electron energy distribution function, the correlation between the current and the emission is clear. Camera images recorded along with the current for a region with high and low intensity are provided in the figure, from which such correlations can hardly be drawn from visual inspection. Therefore, we determined for each image the total intensity of plasma emission by summing up the intensity of each discharge pixel above a certain threshold, shown by the orange trace. A match between the intensity and current profile seems only valid for the region of t > 0.8 ms, in contrast to the region of t < 0.8 ms. The discrepancy in this regime is most likely due to geometric constraints. When most of the discharges are located in front of the wire (and almost no discharges would be present on the back side of the wire), there is good agreement. On the other hand, discharges behind the wire are obscured and contribute to the current without being detected by the camera. We assume this is the case in the region of t < 0.8 ms.