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Paleari CI, Mekhaldi F, Adolphi F, Christl M, Vockenhuber C, Gautschi P, Beer J, Brehm N, Erhardt T, Synal HA, Wacker L, Wilhelms F, Muscheler R. Cosmogenic radionuclides reveal an extreme solar particle storm near a solar minimum 9125 years BP. Nat Commun 2022; 13:214. [PMID: 35017519 PMCID: PMC8752676 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-27891-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2021] [Accepted: 12/22/2021] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
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.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chiara I Paleari
- Department of Geology - Quaternary Sciences, Lund University, 22362, Lund, Sweden.
| | - Florian Mekhaldi
- Department of Geology - Quaternary Sciences, Lund University, 22362, Lund, Sweden
- British Antarctic Survey, Ice Dynamics and Paleoclimate, Cambridge, CB3 0ET, UK
| | - Florian Adolphi
- Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung, 27570, Bremerhaven, Germany
| | - Marcus Christl
- Laboratory of Ion Beam Physics, ETH Zürich, 8093, Zürich, Switzerland
| | | | - Philip Gautschi
- Laboratory of Ion Beam Physics, ETH Zürich, 8093, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Jürg Beer
- Department of Surface Waters, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, 8600, Dübendorf, Switzerland
| | - Nicolas Brehm
- Laboratory of Ion Beam Physics, ETH Zürich, 8093, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Tobias Erhardt
- Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung, 27570, Bremerhaven, Germany
- Climate and Environmental Physics, Physics Institute and Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Bern, 3012, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Hans-Arno Synal
- Laboratory of Ion Beam Physics, ETH Zürich, 8093, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Lukas Wacker
- Laboratory of Ion Beam Physics, ETH Zürich, 8093, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Frank Wilhelms
- Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung, 27570, Bremerhaven, Germany
- Department of Crystallography, Geoscience Centre, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Raimund Muscheler
- Department of Geology - Quaternary Sciences, Lund University, 22362, Lund, Sweden
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