| 1. |
- Mekhaldi, F., et al.
(författare)
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No Coincident Nitrate Enhancement Events in Polar Ice Cores Following the Largest Known Solar Storms
- 2017
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Ingår i: Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres. - 2169-8996. ; 122:21, s. 11-11
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Knowledge on the occurrence rate of extreme solar storms is strongly limited by the relatively recent advent of satellite monitoring of the Sun. To extend our perspective of solar storms prior to the satellite era and because atmospheric ionization induced by solar energetic particles (SEPs) can lead to the production of odd nitrogen, nitrate spikes in ice cores have been tentatively used to document both the occurrence and intensity of past SEP events. However, the reliability of the use of nitrate in ice records as a proxy for SEP events is strongly debated. This is partly due to equivocal detection of nitrate spikes in single ice cores and possible alternative sources, such as biomass burning plumes. Here we present new continuous high-resolution measurements of nitrate and of the biomass burning species ammonium and black carbon, from several Antarctic and Greenland ice cores. We investigate periods covering the two largest known SEP events of 775 and 994 Common Era as well as the Carrington event and the hard SEP event of February 1956. We report no coincident nitrate spikes associated with any of these benchmark events. We also demonstrate the low reproducibility of the nitrate signal in multiple ice cores and confirm the significant relationship between biomass burning plumes and nitrate spikes in individual ice cores. In the light of these new data, there is no line of evidence that supports the hypothesis that ice cores preserve or document detectable amounts of nitrate produced by SEPs, even for the most extreme events known to date.
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| 2. |
- Mekhaldi, F., et al.
(författare)
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The Signal of Solar Storms Embedded in Cosmogenic Radionuclides : Detectability and Uncertainties
- 2021
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Ingår i: Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics. - 2169-9380. ; 126:8
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The threat that solar storms pose to our ever-modernizing society has gathered significant interest in the recent past. This is partly due to the discoveries of large peaks in the content of cosmogenic radionuclides such as radiocarbon (14C) in tree rings and beryllium-10 (10Be) and chlorine-36 (36Cl) in ice cores that were linked to extreme solar storms dated to the past millennia. To better assess the threat that they represent, we need to better quantify the relationship between their energy spectrum and their magnitude with respect to the content of the radionuclides that we measure in environmental archives such as ice cores. Here, we model the global production rate that the 59 largest particle storms coming from the Sun have induced for 10Be, 14C, and 36Cl during the past 70 years. We also consider the deposition flux in 10Be and 36Cl over the high latitudes where all Greenland ice cores are located. Our analysis shows that it is unlikely that any recent solar particle event can be detected in 10Be from ice cores. By relating these values to empirical data from ice cores, we are able to quantify different detection limits and uncertainties for 10Be and 36Cl. Due to different sensitivities to solar energetic particles, we assess that 10Be may only be suitable to detect a limited number of extreme solar storms, while 36Cl is suitable to detect any extreme particle event. This implies that the occurrence-rate estimates of extreme solar storms, based mainly on 14C and 10Be, relate to a small population of potential events.
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| 3. |
- Cliver, E. W., et al.
(författare)
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Solar Longitude Distribution of High-energy Proton Flares : Fluences and Spectra
- 2020
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Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal Letters. - : American Astronomical Society. - 2041-8205 .- 2041-8213. ; 900:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The distribution of the longitudes of solar flares associated with the high-energy proton events called ground level events (GLEs) can be approximated by a Gaussian with a peak at ∼W60, with a full range from ∼E90 to ∼W150. The longitudes of flares associated with the top third (24 of 72) of GLEs in terms of their >430 MeV fluences (F 430) are primarily distributed over E20-W100 with a skew toward disk center. This 120 span in longitude is comparable to the latitudinal spans of powerful coronal mass ejections (CMEs) from limb flares. Only 5 of 24 strong GLEs are located within the W40-80 zone of good magnetic connection to Earth. GLEs with hard spectra, i.e., a spectral index SI30/200(= log(F 30/F 200)) < 1.5, also tend to avoid W40-80 source regions. Three-fourths of such events (16 of 21) arise in flares outside this range. The above tendencies favor a CME-driven shock source over a flare-resident acceleration process for high-energy solar protons. GLE spectra show a trend, with broad scatter, from hard spectra for events originating in eruptive flares beyond the west limb to soft spectra for GLEs with sources near central meridian. This behavior can be explained in terms of: (1) dominant near-Sun quasi-perpendicular shock acceleration of protons for far western (>W100) GLEs; (2) quasi-parallel shock acceleration for well-connected (W40-80) GLEs, and (3) proton acceleration/trapping at CME-driven bow shocks from central meridian (E20-W20) that strike the Earth.
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| 4. |
- Sigl, M., et al.
(författare)
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Timing and climate forcing of volcanic eruptions for the past 2,500 years
- 2015
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Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 523:7562, s. 543-549
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Volcanic eruptions contribute to climate variability, but quantifying these contributions has been limited by inconsistencies in the timing of atmospheric volcanic aerosol loading determined from ice cores and subsequent cooling from climate proxies such as tree rings. Here we resolve these inconsistencies and show that large eruptions in the tropics and high latitudes were primary drivers of interannual-to-decadal temperature variability in the Northern Hemisphere during the past 2,500 years. Our results are based on new records of atmospheric aerosol loading developed from high-resolution, multi-parameter measurements from an array of Greenland and Antarctic ice cores as well as distinctive age markers to constrain chronologies. Overall, cooling was proportional to the magnitude of volcanic forcing and persisted for up to ten years after some of the largest eruptive episodes. Our revised timescale more firmly implicates volcanic eruptions as catalysts in the major sixth-century pandemics, famines, and socioeconomic disruptions in Eurasia and Mesoamerica while allowing multi-millennium quantification of climate response to volcanic forcing.
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