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

Chiara I. Paleari (), Florian Mekhaldi, Florian Adolphi, Marcus Christl, Christof Vockenhuber, Philip Gautschi, Jürg Beer, Nicolas Brehm, Tobias Erhardt, Hans-Arno Synal, Lukas Wacker, Frank Wilhelms and Raimund Muscheler
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Chiara I. Paleari: Lund University
Florian Mekhaldi: Lund University
Florian Adolphi: Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung
Marcus Christl: ETH Zürich
Christof Vockenhuber: ETH Zürich
Philip Gautschi: ETH Zürich
Jürg Beer: Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology
Nicolas Brehm: ETH Zürich
Tobias Erhardt: Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung
Hans-Arno Synal: ETH Zürich
Lukas Wacker: ETH Zürich
Frank Wilhelms: Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung
Raimund Muscheler: Lund University

Nature Communications, 2022, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: 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.

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-27891-4

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