Cosmogenic radionuclides reveal an extreme solar particle storm near a solar minimum 9125 years BP.

ABSTRACT: During solar storms, the Sun expels large amounts of energetic particles (SEP) that can react with the Earth's atmospheric constituents and produce cosmogenic radionuclides such as ¹⁴C, ¹⁰Be and ³⁶Cl. Here we present ¹⁰Be and ³⁶Cl data measured in ice cores from Greenland and Antarctica. The data consistently show one of the largest ¹⁰Be and ³⁶Cl production peaks detected so far, most likely produced by an extreme SEP event that hit Earth 9125 years BP (before present, i.e., before 1950 CE), i.e., 7176 BCE. Using the ³⁶Cl/¹⁰Be ratio, we demonstrate that this event was characterized by a very hard energy spectrum and was possibly up to two orders of magnitude larger than any SEP event during the instrumental period. Furthermore, we provide ¹⁰Be-based evidence that, contrary to expectations, the SEP event occurred near a solar minimum.

SUBMITTER: Paleari CI 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8752676 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature