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Scientists from the University of West Virginia are studying the traces of powerful solar storms known as "Miyake events". About this write SciTechDaily.
Miyake events — these are phenomena during which the level of radiocarbon in the atmosphere increases significantly. Their traces were first found in tree rings dated to AD 774 and AD 993, indicating strong geomagnetic storms during those times. Studies show that such events can cause devastating disruptions in modern satellite and telecommunications systems, and recovery from a catastrophic solar storm can take up to 15 years.
The study's leader, geography professor Amy Hessl, is working to understand how such events affect the Earth's atmosphere and how this can help prepare for future space disasters. Her team studies trees that form rings by accumulating radiocarbon and can store data about past solar superevents.
Hessl's team is also analyzing tree rings from different trees, including lodgepole pine from Utah, bog cypress from North Carolina, and oaks from the Missouri River, to compare different methods of radiocarbon accumulation. This will help assess how reliably the trees record events and how accurately they can serve as an indicator of solar activity. Hessl emphasizes that these studies can prepare society for potential catastrophic events and provide important information to protect technological infrastructure.
