"New worst-case scenario": Strongest solar storm hit the Earth in 12,350 BCE
At the end of the last ice age, the Earth was hit by the strongest solar storm ever known. If something similar occurred today, the impact would be catastrophic.
(Image: The University of Queensland)
The strongest solar storm known to date hit the Earth 14,375 years ago and was almost 20 percent stronger than the previous record holder from the years 774/775. This was determined by a European research team, confirming that the event in the most recent ice age was indeed significantly stronger than all known successors. Earlier analyses had indicated the enormous strength, but confirmation had not yet been forthcoming. For their work, the team used a new method that was validated using the measurement data for the solar storm from the year 775. This means that the solar storm from 12,350 BCE now represents a new “worst-case scenario” for the Earth, explains research leader Kseniia Golubenko.
A repeat would be catastrophic for us
The solar storm that has now been classified is a Miyake event, named after the discoverer of the immense accumulation of the carbon isotope C-14 in the annual rings of trees that is associated with it. This occurs when radiation hits the Earth's atmosphere. Until now, an increase from the years 774 and 775 was considered to be the strongest, but the one from the year 12,350 BCE clearly surpasses it once again. However, it was not twice as strong as was assumed after its discovery a year and a half ago. Nevertheless, the measurement means that the ice-age solar storm was 500 times stronger than the strongest such event from the modern satellite era, the team writes. This was recorded in 2005.
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To determine the strength of the solar storm, the team had to model the isotope accumulation against the background of the climatic conditions during the ice age. To validate the model developed, however, it was then also validated using the measurement data from later Miyake events. Based on the analyzed tree rings, the team also discovered that the solar storm occurred in the spring of the Ice Age year – most likely in early March. Our ancestors may not have been aware of it at all. This is because, for example, there is practically no evidence that the strongest event to date from the years 774 and 775 was visible to humans.
(Image:Â Golubenke et.al)
If such an event were to happen again today, the consequences would most likely be catastrophic, given our immense dependence on technology. The particles could paralyze modern infrastructure in space and on the earth's surface, affecting power and communication networks, for example. It is therefore all the more important to understand past events as well as possible. Just a few months ago, a research group determined that such gigantic eruptions occur much more frequently than assumed. At the same time, they are significantly stronger than one of the most violent solar storms of the past centuries, the so-called Carrington Event of 1859.
(mho)
