Miyake event

A Miyake event is an observed sharp enhancement of the production of cosmogenic isotopes by cosmic rays. It can be marked by a spike in the concentration of radioactive carbon isotope 14
C in tree rings, 10
Be and 36
Cl in ice cores, which are all independently dated. At present, five events are known (7176 BCE, 5259 BCE, 660 BCE, 774 CE, 993 CE) and four (12,350 BCE,[1] 5410 BCE, 1052 CE, 1279 CE) need independent confirmation. This data shows that Miyake events are rare, occurring roughly once per 1–2 millennia.

There is strong evidence that Miyake events are due to extreme solar particle events.[2][3] They are likely related to super-flares discovered on solar-like stars.[3][4] Some events might have taken seemingly longer than one year;[5] they can still be consistent with a solar origin,[6] or they might be indicative of other scenarios.[7]

The biggest Miyake event so far discovered occurred in 12,350 or 12,349 BCE, according to the analysis of ancient tree rings found in the French Alps. For this study, an international team of researchers measured radiocarbon levels in ancient trees on the eroded banks of the Drouzet River, near Gap, France, in the Southern French Alps.[8][9][10] This newly identified 14,300-year-old storm is roughly twice the size of the Δ14
C increase for more recent 774 CE and 993 CE events, but the strength of the corresponding solar storm is not yet assessed.

A Miyake event occurring in modern conditions might have significant impacts on global technological infrastructure such as satellites, telecommunications, and power grids.[6][11][12]

Discovery

The events are named after the Japanese physicist Fusa Miyake, who as a doctoral student was the first one to identify these radiocarbon spikes and published with co-authors the results in 2012 in the journal Nature.[13] The investigation at that time found a strong 14
C increase in the annual rings of Japanese cedars for the years 774/775. The event of 775 was independently discovered, using the low-resolution IntCal data.[14] In 2013, Miyake and co-authors published the discovery of another, similar radiocarbon spike in the years 993/994.[15] In December 2013, Miyake received her Doctor of Science degree from Nagoya University.[16]

Time benchmark

After a Miyake event is well-studied and confirmed, it can serve as a reference time benchmark, a "year-stamp", enabling more precise dating of historical events. Six diverse historical occurrences, from archaeological sites to natural disasters, have thus been dated to a specific year, using Miyake events as benchmarks and counting tree rings.[17] For example, wooden houses in the Viking site at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland were dated by finding the 993 CE Miyake event and then counting tree rings, which showed that the wood is from a tree felled in 1021 CE.[18]

References
  1. Jane Kirby (9 October 2023). "Biggest ever solar storm identified using ancient tree rings". Independent. Retrieved 9 October 2023.
  2. Usoskin, I.G.; Kromer, B.; Ludlow, F.; Beer, J.; Friedrich, F.; Kovaltsov, G.; Solanki, S.; Wacker, L. (2013). "The AD775 cosmic event revisited: the Sun is to blame". Astronomy and Astrophysics Letters. 552: L3. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201321080.
  3. Cliver, Edward W.; Schrijver, Carolus; Shibata, Kazunari; Usoskin, Ilya G. (2022). "Extreme solar events". Living Reviews in Solar Physics. 19: 2. doi:10.1007/s41116-022-00033-8.
  4. Maehara, Hiroyuki; Shibayama, Tayuka; Notsu, Shota; Notsu, Yuta; Nagao, Takashi; Kusaba, Satoshi; Honda, Satoshi; Nogami, Daisaku; Shibata, Kazunari (2012). "Super-flares on solar-type stars". Nature. 485: 478. doi:10.1038/nature11063.
  5. Zhang, Qingyuan; Sharma, Utkarsh; Dennis, Jordan A.; Scifo, Andrea; Kuitems, Margot; Büntgen, Ulf; Owens, Mathew J.; Dee, Michael W.; Pope, Benjamin J. S. (2022). "Modelling cosmic radiation events in the tree-ring radiocarbon record". Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences. 478 (2266). arXiv:2210.13775. Bibcode:2022RSPSA.47820497Z. doi:10.1098/rspa.2022.0497. S2CID 253107601.
  6. Miyake, Fusa; Usoskin, Ilya; Poluianov, Stepan (2020). Extreme Solar Particle Storms: the hostile Sun. Bristol UK: Institute of Physics. doi:10.1088/2514-3433/ab404a.
  7. Kornei, Katherine (6 March 2023). "Mystery of Ancient Space Superstorms Deepens: A fresh analysis of tree-ring data suggests barrages of cosmic radiation that washed over Earth centuries ago may have come from sources besides our sun". Scientific American. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
  8. Alex Wilkins (Oct 9, 2023). "Largest known solar storm struck Earth 14,300 years ago". New Scientist.
  9. Edouard Bard; et al. (Oct 9, 2023). "A radiocarbon spike at 14 300 cal yr BP in subfossil trees provides the impulse response function of the global carbon cycle during the Late Glacial". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A. doi:10.1098/rsta.2022.0206.
  10. "Largest Ever Solar Storm Identified in Ancient Tree Rings – Could Devastate Modern Technology and Cost Billions". 9 October 2023. Retrieved 9 October 2023.
  11. Brehm, Nicolas; Christl, Marcus; Knowles, Timothy D. J.; Casanova, Emmanuelle; Evershed, Richard P.; Adolphi, Florian; Muscheler, Raimund; Synal, Hans-Arno; Mekhaldi, Florian; Paleari, Chiara I.; Leuschner, Hanns-Hubert; Bayliss, Alex; Nicolussi, Kurt; Pichler, Thomas; Schlüchter, Christian; Pearson, Charlotte L.; Salzer, Matthew W.; Fonti, Patrick; Nievergelt, Daniel; Hantemirov, Rashit; Brown, David M.; Usoskin, Ilya; Wacker, Lukas (2022). "Tree-rings reveal two strong solar proton events in 7176 and 5259 BCE". Nature Communications. 13 (1): 1196. Bibcode:2022NatCo..13.1196B. doi:10.1038/s41467-022-28804-9. PMC 8901681. PMID 35256613.
  12. "Radiocarbon (14C)". www.isee.nagoya-u.ac.jp. 17 November 2021. Retrieved 2023-03-06.
  13. Miyake, F.; Nagaya, K.; Masuda, K.; Nakamura, T. (2012). "A signature of cosmic-ray increase in AD 774–775 from tree rings in Japan". Nature. 486: 240. doi:10.1038/nature11123.
  14. Usoskin, Ilya; Kovaltsov, Gennady (2012). "Occurrence of Extreme Solar Particle Events: Assessment from Historical Proxy Data". Astrophysical Journal. 757: 92. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/757/1/92.
  15. Miyake, Fusa; Masuda, Kimiaki; Nakamura, Toshio (2013). "Another rapid event in the carbon-14 content of tree rings". Nature Communications. 4: 1748. Bibcode:2013NatCo...4.1748M. doi:10.1038/ncomms2783. PMID 23612289. S2CID 256624509.
  16. "Faculty Profiles: MIYAKE Fusa". Nagoya University. Retrieved 17 October 2023. Degree: 博士（理学）（ 2013.12 名古屋大学 ）
  17. Price, Michael (13 April 2023). "Marking time: Radiocarbon timestamps left in ancient tree rings by cosmic ray bombardments can date historical events with unprecedented precision". Science. A previous version "Marking time: Cosmic ray storms can pin precise dates on history from ancient Egypt to the Vikings" appeared in Science, Vol 380, Issue 6641.
  18. Kuitems, Margot; et al. (20 October 2021). "Evidence for European presence in the Americas in AD 1021" (PDF). Nature. 601 (7893): 388–391. doi:10.1038/s41586-021-03972-8. PMC 8770119. PMID 34671168. S2CID 239051036. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-10-09.

See also
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