Ancient Solar Storm: A Glimpse into Earth's Past

The sun has always been a powerful force, but 14, 300 years ago, it unleashed a solar storm that was off the charts. This storm was so intense that it left a mark on Earth's atmosphere that scientists could still detect today. It was so powerful that it was more than 500 times stronger than the most intense solar storm in modern history, the 2003 Halloween Solar Storm. This ancient event was the only known extreme solar particle event outside of the Holocene epoch, the past approximately 12, 000 years of stable warm climate. Scientists had a tough time figuring out the details of this storm. They had to develop a new chemistry-climate model to interpret the radiocarbon data from glacial climate conditions. This model helped them understand that the spike in carbon-14 isotope levels in fossilized tree rings was caused by this massive solar storm. Carbon-14 is a radioactive isotope of carbon that is produced when nitrogen atoms in the atmosphere interact with cosmic rays. This isotope is used by scientists to date organic materials. The storm took place between January and April in the year 12, 350 BC. At that time, hundreds of thousands of mammoth hunters lived in Europe. They would have seen an incredible aurora borealis, a natural light display in the sky. This storm was even stronger than the 775 AD solar storm, which hit Earth during the reign of Charles the Great in medieval Europe. The 775 AD storm was one of the five other radiocarbon spikes found in tree ring data. The 12, 350 BC storm deposited about 18% more charged particles into the atmosphere. Understanding the scope of these enormous solar storms is crucial for technology experts today. Our society is heavily dependent on electronic systems and space technologies, making us more vulnerable to the sun's outbursts. The 1859 Carrington Event, for example, took down telegraph wires all over the world. The Halloween Storm of 2003, which was ten times weaker, caused chaos in Earth's orbit as satellites' trajectories changed unpredictably. A storm as strong as the one in 12, 350 BC would likely cause complete mayhem if it were to strike Earth today. The study that revealed these findings was published in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters. It provides a new worst-case scenario for future solar storms and highlights the importance of understanding their scale. This knowledge can help us evaluate the risks posed by future solar storms to modern infrastructure like satellites, power grids, and communication systems.