A team of researchers from the University of Arizona (USA) is analyzing tree rings in detail to find evidence of colossal solar storms known as Miyake events.
These space weather phenomena are so rare that only 6 have been detected in the last 14,500 years. The most recent occurred around 775-775 AD.
The Miyake event is an extremely strong solar activity, traces of which were first discovered in 2012 by Japanese physicist Fusa Miyake, reports Noi.md with reference to .
“If it were to happen today, it would have catastrophic consequences for communication technologies,” says Irina Paniuškina, lead author of the new study.
Fusa Miyake, who is also part of Paniushkina’s research team today, has published a study that reveals the scenario of these events.
As a result of increased solar activity, cosmic radiation interacts with nitrogen in the Earth’s atmosphere, which leads to the formation of the carbon-14 isotope. This, in turn, reacts with oxygen in the atmosphere to form carbon dioxide. This carbon dioxide is then absorbed by the trees through photosynthesis, and a certain amount of carbon-14 becomes part of the wood.
Paniushkina and his team at the University of Arizona carefully examined the rings of trees whose trunks were preserved in silt on the banks of rivers for random reasons or were found during archaeological excavations. High concentrations of carbon-14 indicate that the tree lived during the era of the Miyake event.
