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Biggest solar storm detected so far leaves scientists ‘puzzled and alarmed’ – Earth is not ready for the next one

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The incident occurred 9,200 years ago at a solar minimum, the calmest part of its cycle, which the experts did not believe was feasible.

The Sun has given us a fresh reason to be concerned. We’ve known for a long time that our normally tranquil star may nevertheless produce storms that fling tens of thousands of tons of solar material into space.

We also know that when powerful energetic particle emissions known as ‘coronal mass ejections’ are directed toward Earth, they have the potential to harm our satellite communications systems, electronics, and, worse, power plants, resulting in catastrophic long-term blackouts with serious consequences for industrial society and our way of life.

These types of catastrophes typically occur during the Sun’s most active times, which follow precise cycles in which solar ‘maximums’ and ‘minimums’ alternate every eleven years, passing alternatively from periods of immense ferocity to others of nearly complete stillness.

We are currently at the start of solar cycle 25, which began between December 2019 and January 2020, according to scientists, and has already shown signs of being significantly more active than the previous one. Indeed, the cycle had up to 80% more sunspots (where storms and coronal mass ejections occur) last year than the previous cycle 24.

However, the scientists’ new concern is not due to the fact that a more active cycle than the previous one is starting, which is also true, but rather to a study recently published in ‘Nature Communications’ announcing the discovery of a previously unknown powerful solar storm that occurred 9,200 years ago in ancient ice cores at both poles.

The storm was one of the most powerful solar flares ever seen, according to the researchers, and it left permanent scars on the ice of Antarctica and Greenland. It would have surely wrecked much of Earth’s electrical and communications networks if it had happened now.

Our planet is not ready

The main cause for alarm, however, is not the solar event’s huge strength, but the precise moment in which it occurred. Indeed, the massive storm struck our planet during a solar minimum, the calmest and quietest phase of the aforementioned eleven-year activity cycles.

According to the researchers, their surprising discovery suggests that a terrible solar storm might occur at any time, even when we least expect it. They underline that the Earth is not in any way ready for this.

“These enormous storms,” says Raimund Muscheler, co-author, “are currently not sufficiently included in risk assessments. It is of the utmost importance to analyze what these events could mean for today’s technology and how we can protect ourselves.”

Satellites are now capable of directly monitoring solar flares. Finding evidence of ancient storms, on the other hand, necessitates some serious detective effort. The authors of the current study looked for cosmogenic radionuclides in the ice, which are radioactive isotopes generated when charged solar rays smash with components in the Earth’s atmosphere.

As in this work, radioactive particles can be found in natural records such as tree rings and ice cores. The researchers looked at ice cores from Antarctica and Greenland in particular. And, at both sites, analysis revealed a significant spike in the radionuclides beryllium-10 and chlorine-36 around 9,200 years ago, indicating that the Earth was hit by a powerful solar storm.

Further investigation revealed that the storm was unusually intense, as powerful as or more powerful than the most powerful storm ever recorded, and that it happened between 775 and 774 BC, during a solar maximum. The most perplexing aspect, as previously said, is that the storm in the latest study occurred during a period of low solar magnetic activity, leaving the researchers ‘puzzled and alarmed.’

“This [storm],” according to authors, “further pushes the magnitude of a potential worst-case scenario for [solar storm] events.”

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