The research, led by Postdoctoral Researcher Kseniia Golubenko and Professor Ilya Usoskin, utilized a newly developed chemistry-climate model, SOCOL:14C-Ex, to reconstruct the intensity of solar particle storms under late Ice Age conditions. The model revealed that this ancient storm was roughly 18% more intense than the AD 775 event, previously the largest known solar storm based on tree-ring data.
"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," explained Dr. Golubenko.
The SOCOL:14C-Ex model, designed specifically to assess such extreme ancient events, was validated using wood samples from the French Alps, dating to the late Ice Age. This verification confirmed the exceptional strength of the 12350 BC storm, pushing the boundaries of known solar activity beyond the Holocene epoch, which spans the past 12,000 years.
Solar particle storms, though rare, have profound effects on Earth's atmosphere, dramatically increasing the production of cosmogenic isotopes like radiocarbon (14C). These intense storms can serve as precise timestamps for dating ancient artifacts, as evidenced by the so-called Miyake events, which have previously enabled precise dating of Viking settlements and Neolithic sites.
"This event establishes a new worst-case scenario," said Golubenko, emphasizing the importance of understanding such events for predicting potential impacts on modern technological infrastructure, including satellites and power grids.
Research Report:New SOCOL:14C-Ex model reveals that the Late-Glacial radiocarbon spike in 12350 BC was caused by the record-strong extreme solar storm
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