Catastrophic solar storms may not explain shadows of radiation in trees

Fallen · Nov 8, 2022

A cryptic chemical signature of unknown origins, hidden for centuries inside the trunks of Earth’s trees, just became even more mysterious.

In the last decade, scientists have discovered traces on Earth of six intense bursts of radiation, known as Miyake events, scattered over the last 9,300 years. The most popular explanation is that these mysterious signatures were left behind by massive solar storms, leading some scientists to warn that the next Miyake event could cripple the world’s electrical grid. But new research, published in the October Proceedings of the Royal Society A, suggests that more than just solar flares might be behind the enigmatic radiation.

The finding underscores the need for further investigations into these strange bursts, which could potentially harm our society in the future, says physicist Gianluca Quarta of the University of Salento in Lecce, Italy, who was not involved in the study. “Something is not fitting with what we know at the moment.”

Miyake events were first discovered in trees. As trees grow, their trunks accrue layers, or rings, which lock in chemical signatures from their surroundings. By analyzing the composition of individual tree rings, researchers can uncover clues about environmental conditions going back thousands of years (SN: 6/1/20).

In 2012, physicist Fusa Miyake of Nagoya University in Japan was studying Japanese cedar tree rings when she found a sharp spike in radiocarbon — a variant of carbon that can form when cosmic radiation strikes Earth’s atmosphere — in rings dating to about A.D. 774. Since then, five other similar bursts, now named Miyake events, have been detected in tree rings around the world as well as in polar ice cores.

Due to the spikes’ global occurrence, many scientists contend that the events have an extraterrestrial origin. The most popular explanation is that especially large solar storms, or flares, blasted Earth with big bursts of radiation (SN: 2/26/21).

The most powerful solar storm in recorded history was the 1859 Carrington event, which broke telegraph lines and sparked a circuit fire in Pittsburgh. The radiation levels associated with Miyake events are more than 80 times those of the Carrington event, says physicist Benjamin Pope of the University of Queensland in St. Lucia, Australia. “They could pose serious risks to global technology.”

But the solar storm story has holes. Radiation levels from the 774 event would have been too high to have come from a single solar flare, some researchers have suggested. And ice cores, which can also store chemical traces of solar flares, have not yet yielded evidence of increased solar activity for every Miyake event.

So, Pope and his colleagues put the leading hypothesis to the test. They analyzed all publicly available tree ring data on the six Miyake events using computer simulations of Earth’s carbon cycle. This allowed the team to calculate the duration, timing and amplitude of each event.

If Miyake events are tied to solar activity, they could align with the solar maxima, which occur roughly every 11 years when solar flares become more frequent. But the researchers found no correlation between Miyake events and any phase of the solar cycle. What’s more, the researchers found that two of the events appeared to last longer than a year — unexpectedly long for solar storms, which typically rage for hours or days.

And if solar flares did cause the events, then trees nearer the poles, where Earth’s protective magnetic field is weaker, should contain higher levels of Miyake event radiation. But the researchers found no such trends.

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/solar-storm-radiation-trees-miyake-event
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So any theories on what caused this excess radiation?

WillReadmore · Nov 8, 2022

Fallen said: ↑

So any theories on what caused this excess radiation?
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None here!

But, there sure are stupendous sources of energy in space. Quasars, for example, emit 1,000,000,000,000 the energy of our sun, but the closest are too far away to damage Earth even if they pointed at us - like 200 light years.

FatBack · Nov 8, 2022

There is radiation naturally present in the ground. Although it is just small Trace amounts... They strip mine phosphate in this area of Florida and part of the waste from the processing of it is probably more radioactive than they let on because they have been concentrating natural radiation.

557 · Nov 8, 2022

Carbon 14, the isotope in question has two known sources on earth. Reaction in the stratosphere driven by solar radiation and nuclear explosions/reactions. The C14 concentrations in the atmosphere doubled from nuclear testing in the bomb testing heyday. Even though the half life is 5730 years and plants don’t like C14 as much as C12, the atmospheric relative concentration of C14 is almost back to pre 1950 levels! Where did it go? Oceans absorb all three carbon isotopes equally.

This is one reason I have serious doubts about using atmospheric concentrations of carbon isotopes to define things like fossil fuel vs biofuel carbon sources etc. We don’t even understand where C14 comes from apparently, just that it has wide, sudden swings. It was just a couple years ago I think we found out our former estimates of how much C14 is produced in the stratosphere were overestimates. So even normal, not spike concentrations are now unaccounted for. I’m not a fan of making predictions using things we clearly don’t understand.

I have lots of questions about C14! But no answer to this enigma.

Interesting thread.

557 · Nov 8, 2022

WillReadmore said: ↑

None here!

But, there sure are stupendous sources of energy in space. Quasars, for example, emit 1,000,000,000,000 the energy of our sun, but the closest are too far away to damage Earth even if they pointed at us - like 200 light years.
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Agree. One theory of the source of the 700 AD spike is a supernova. But it’s assumed anything close energy wise to a supernova event would have been so bright there would be some historical record of such an event.

Fallen · Nov 9, 2022

557 said: ↑

Agree. One theory of the source of the 700 AD spike is a supernova. But it’s assumed anything close energy wise to a supernova event would have been so bright there would be some historical record of such an event.
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Maybe it was the aliens.

557 · Nov 9, 2022

Fallen said: ↑

Maybe it was the aliens.
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Which ones? The ones in slow moving saucers or the ones in cigarette shaped craft that can change 50,000 ft elevation in a second?

I guess if their craft are powered by nuclear reactions it’s a viable hypothesis.

Fallen · Nov 9, 2022

557 said: ↑

Which ones? The ones in slow moving saucers or the ones in cigarette shaped craft that can change 50,000 ft elevation in a second?

I guess if their craft are powered by nuclear reactions it’s a viable hypothesis.
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Makes me think of the giant war in the Hindu scriptures

“…(the weapon was) a single projectile
charged with all the power of the Universe.
An incandescent column of smoke and flame
As bright as the thousand suns rose in all its splendor…

An iron thunderbolt,
A gigantic messenger of death,
Which reduced to ashes
The entire race of the Vrishnis
And the Andhakas.

… the corpses were so burned
As to be unrecognizable.
The hair and nails fell out;
Pottery broke without cause,
And the birds turned white.

… After a few hours
All foodstuffs were infected…
… to escape from this fire
The soldiers jumped into streams
To save themselves and their equipment…”
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Or maybe if was a pole shift or pole flip

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