Radioactive Particles From Huge Solar Storm Found In Greenland (theguardian.com) 54
Traces of an enormous solar storm that battered the atmosphere and showered Earth in radioactive particles more than 2,500 years ago have been discovered under the Greenland ice sheet. The Guardian reports: Scientists studying ice nearly half a kilometer beneath the surface found a band of radioactive elements unleashed by a storm that struck the planet in 660BC. It was at least 10 times more powerful than any recorded by instruments set up to detect such events in the past 70 years, and as strong as the most intense known solar storm, which hit Earth in AD775. The discovery means that the worst-case scenarios used in risk planning for serious space weather events underestimate how powerful solar storms can be.
Raimund Muscheler, a professor of quaternary sciences at Lund University in Sweden, and his team analyzed two ice cores drilled from the Greenland ice sheet and found that both contained spikes in isotopes of beryllium and chlorine that date back to about 660BC. The material appears to be the radioactive remnants of a solar storm that battered the atmosphere. The scientists calculate that the storm sent at least 10 billion protons per square centimeter into the atmosphere. "A solar proton event of such magnitude occurring in modern times could result in severe disruption of satellite-based technologies, high frequency radio communication and space-based navigation systems," they write in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Raimund Muscheler, a professor of quaternary sciences at Lund University in Sweden, and his team analyzed two ice cores drilled from the Greenland ice sheet and found that both contained spikes in isotopes of beryllium and chlorine that date back to about 660BC. The material appears to be the radioactive remnants of a solar storm that battered the atmosphere. The scientists calculate that the storm sent at least 10 billion protons per square centimeter into the atmosphere. "A solar proton event of such magnitude occurring in modern times could result in severe disruption of satellite-based technologies, high frequency radio communication and space-based navigation systems," they write in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Re:Worst case (Score:5, Insightful)
There is currently more electronic infrastructure in place and at risk than, say, was present under the rule of King Cynewulf of Wessex.
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Now, don't confound things with logic.
Obviously this solar storm was the result of anthropomorphic global warming.
Extra-Solar Alien #1 "We hit them precisely! Why isn't the high-frequency radiation-pulse death ray wiping them out!?"
Extra-Solar Alien #2 "It's some sort of a time-dilation effect from passing through the wormhole. The pulses are now extremely long in duration and thus thinned out and weakened to ineffectiveness, plus on top of that, the frequency of the pulses have gone from being at the upper limits of our detection range to being separated by over a thousand local planetary years at the target! The onl
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The event of 2,610 years B.P. stands out because of its particular signature in the radionuclide data [i.e., carbon-14 (14C) data alone does not allow for an unequivocal detection of the event]. It illustrates that present efforts to find such events based solely on 14C data likely lead to an underestimated number of such potentially devastating events for our society.
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If a solar storm knocks out all the navigation and communication satellites and fries all the radio electronics within 100 miles of the planet's surface, I think you'll find that starvation rates will spike dramatically shortly thereafter.
Admittedly, deception will probably be unaffected.
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If it knocks down television and broadcast radio, deception will be WAAAAAAAY down.
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We always picture this worse case scenario of some sort of EMP taking us back to the 1800's. However from my experience. Where I was working, a lightning bolt struck my companies power supply, and fried some equipment up from the ground wires, which created a major outage event, we still had limited damage, we replaced a couple power supplies, replace a couple of fuses in the electronics, and needed to move some cables on a networking switch, as some modules were burned out. We lost about 4 hours worth of
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Sure, an isolated event is easy to recover from, especially if you have some spare parts around, and if the rest of the supply chain is still operating.
If all the distribution transformers in the entire continent burn out, there won't be a quick fix.
Re: starvation & deception #1 killers (Score:1)
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We always picture this worse case scenario of some sort of EMP taking us back to the 1800's. However from my experience. Where I was working, a lightning bolt struck my companies power supply, and fried some equipment up from the ground wires, which created a major outage event, we still had limited damage, we replaced a couple power supplies, replace a couple of fuses in the electronics, and needed to move some cables on a networking switch, as some modules were burned out. We lost about 4 hours worth of work, and the customers average downtime was about 2 hours. It sucked, but it was far from total system loss.
You're comparing a lightning strike on a single location to a CME that would hit around half the planet at arrival. If we're lucky the power companies will be able to disconnect the critical infrastructure from the grid before it hits. And If we're even luckier, the least populated half of the planet will be facing the sun when it hits.
Even in a scenario similar to what you described, can you imagine the shortage of all of those parts when that much stuff gets fried on half the planet? Not to mention vehic
God damnit sun! (Score:1)
Clean your toys off the yard, sun! Even the neighbours are complaining!
Opposite of an uneventful trip to Mars. (Score:2)
Sounds like a crappy way to die.
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Yes, the risk is well known.
All interstellar spacecraft will have a storm shelter. Even the ISS, protected by the magnetosphere, has one.
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Can you imagine being in transit for eight months on the way to Mars only to get severely toasted in the middle?
I think I'd prefer that to finding out the earth got hit while I was half way to/from Mars.
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"I think I'd prefer that to finding out the earth got hit while I was half way to/from Mars."
You wouldn't. It's doubtful anyone on Earth would be able to tell those en-route with most technology fried.
More Where That Came From (Score:2)
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When the power grid goes out, gasoline won't save you.
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When the power grid goes out, gasoline won't save you.
Well, it might if his car doesn't have an ignition system.
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Sure, the car may run for a bit, but the rest of society is still going to collapse around you. It's not going to make a difference in the end.
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Sure, the car may run for a bit, but the rest of society is still going to collapse around you. It's not going to make a difference in the end.
Right. Oh, wait -- a gasoline powered car without an ignition system won't run at all, CME or no CME.
10 billion protons per square centimeter (Score:2)
The scientists calculate that the storm sent at least 10 billion protons per square centimeter into the atmosphere.
That number is hard to comprehend. What would it be in Libraries of Congress per square furlong?
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Tough question, but only because "Library of Congress" is an ill-defined unit of mass. If we just look at the ~32 million books in their collection, assuming they have an average mass of 0.5kg/book, we're talking 16 million kg. Meanwhile a proton masses 1.7*10^-27kg
So: (10^10protons/cm^2) * (4.047*10^8 cm^2 / 1 furlong^2) * (1.7*10^-27kg / 1 proton) * (1 Library of Congress / 16*10^6 kg), make sure the units all cancel, and..
425*10^-18 Libraries of Congress per square furlong.
You're welcome. :-D
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"That number is hard to comprehend. What would it be in Libraries of Congress per square furlong?"
*Square* furlong? What are you? a Vogon?
Look *around* you: you'll never look "square" you. Therefore, the proper measure would be "Libraries of Congress per round furlong" -Go and boil your bottoms, son of a silly person!
774-775 -- same year as that supernova (Score:4, Interesting)
A.D. 774. This year the Northumbians banished their king, Alred, from York at Easter-tide; and chose Ethelred, the son of Mull, for their lord, who reigned four winters. This year also appeared in the heavens a red crucifix, after sunset; the Mercians and the men of Kent fought at Otford; and wonderful serpents were seen in the land of the South-Saxons.
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I don't like the theory that the "crucifix" it's aurora, as that wouldn't be periodic (to only show at the sunset, and likewise located).
I did a search, and novae can trigger electrical storms just the same as solar flares.
660 BC (Score:2)
It's a hell of time in the Earth social time.
It was during this time that Zoroaster https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org] begun it's religion in Iran.
At the same time, in another part of the middle east, Josia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org], reform the pantheon of the judaism in a monotheism using their god of war, Yahweh, as the only god in their religion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
What was the effect on life? (Score:2)