Amazing stuff! Unfortunately the article does not say e.g. how these solar storms affect life on earth.
What if changes in solar activity cause warming and cooling periods (aka climate change) on earth and not a life-essential, atmospheric trace gas like CO2?
These so called Miyake events were not even discovered before 2012. This suggests there might be more of these events to be discovered.
"A study ... has uncovered evidence of an extreme ancient solar storm that struck Earth over 14,000 years ago, during the waning days of the last Ice Age. This event is now confirmed as the most powerful solar particle storm on record, exceeding the infamous 775 CE storm that was long considered the strongest. ...
These unusual spikes of isotopes that can be captured in tree rings are known as Miyake events. ...
Although several Miyake events have been traced back to 994 CE, 663 BCE, 5259 BCE, and 7176 BCE, none surpassed the severity of the 775 CE spike. In 2023, researchers discovered a 40% spike in radiocarbon in a fossilized tree ring corresponding to 14,000 BCE, but the existing models could not quantify the event’s intensity under ancient glacial climatic conditions. ..."
"... “Compared to the largest event of the modern satellite era — the 2005 particle storm — the ancient 12350 BC event was over 500 times more intense, according to our estimates”, says Dr. Golubenko.
Other large known solar particle storms have occurred around 994 AD, 663 BC, 5259 BC and 7176 BC, and a few other candidates are under investigation. The new model was also verified using wood samples recently found in the French Alps, dating back some 14,300 years. ..."
From the highlights and abstract:
"Highlights
• A new generation model of atmospheric radiocarbon transport is developed, which applies to spikes of C for different climatic and geomagnetic conditions.
• The only known extreme solar proton event beyond the Holocene (ca. 12350 BC) is analysed with this model and shown to be the strongest solar event known so far.
• The model was successfully tested in application to a well-studied event of 775 AD.
Abstract
The Sun rarely produced extreme solar particle events (ESPEs), orders of magnitude stronger than everything directly observed. Their enormous power can greatly distort the production of cosmogenic isotopes, e.g., radiocarbon 14C, in the terrestrial system, leaving clear signatures in natural terrestrial archives including dateable tree rings.
Eight such events were known to occur during the past 12 millennia of the Holocene, with the strongest one being that of 775 AD.
Recently, a new and the only ESPE candidate beyond the Holocene has been discovered as the largest known 14C peak dated to ca. 12350 BC, nearly twice as big as that of 775 AD. However, it could not be analysed earlier due to the lack of appropriate models applicable to glacial climate conditions.
We have developed a brand-new state-of-the-art chemistry-climate model SOCOL:14C-Ex to study fast changes in 14C. It was tested on the well-studied event of 775 AD and applied to the ESPE of 12350 BC. We found that it was stronger by 18±11% than by 775 AD and likely occurred between January – April 12350 BC with the most probable date in early March. This makes the ESPE of 12350 BC the record strongest known event, pushing the bounds of the extreme solar-terrestrial events even further, forming the new worst-case scenario paradigm and providing the global tie point for dendrochronological dating before the Holocene. The newly developed model lifts the existing limitation to the Holocene and extends our ability to analyse radiocarbon data even for glacial climate conditions."
The most extreme solar storm hit Earth in 12,350 BC, scientists identify (press release) "New research uncovers the strongest solar event ever detected — rewriting our understanding of space weather and radiocarbon dating."
Graphical abstract
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