Miyake event

Last updated

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, as well as 10
Be and 36
Cl in ice cores, which are all independently dated. At present, five significant events are known (7176 BCE, 5259 BCE, 660 BCE, 774 CE, 993 CE) for which the spike in 14
C is quite remarkable, i.e. above 1% rise over a period of 2 years, and four more events (12,350 BCE, [1] 5410 BCE, 1052 CE, 1279 CE) need independent confirmation. It is not known how often Miyake events occur, but from the available data it is estimated to be every 400–2400 years. [2]

Contents

There is strong evidence that Miyake events are caused by extreme solar particle events [3] [4] and they are likely related to super-flares discovered on solar-like stars. [4] [5] Although Miyake events are based on extreme year-to-year rises of 14
C concentration, the duration of the periods over which the 14
C levels increase or stay at high levels is longer than one year. [6] [7] However, a universal cause and origin of all the events is not yet established in science, and some of the events may be caused by other phenomena coming from outer space (such as a gamma-ray burst). [8]

A recently reported sharp spike in 14
C that occurred between 12,350 and 12,349 BCE may represent the largest known Miyake event. This event was identified during a study conducted by an international team of researchers who measured radiocarbon levels in ancient trees recovered from the eroded banks of the Drouzet River, near Gap, France, in the Southern French Alps. [9] [10] [11] According to the initial study the new event 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. However, the newly discovered 12,350 BCE event has not yet been independently confirmed in wood from other regions, nor it is reliably supported by a clear corresponding spike in other isotopes [10] (such as beryllium-10) that are usually used in combination for absolute radiometric dating.

A Miyake event occurring in modern conditions might have significant impacts on global technological infrastructure such as satellites, telecommunications, and power grids. [7] [12] [13]

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 the results with co-authors in 2012 in the journal Nature . [14] 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. [15]

In 2013, Miyake and co-authors published the discovery of another similar radiocarbon spike in the years 993/994. [16] In December 2013, Miyake received her Doctor of Science degree from Nagoya University. [17]

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 buildings, objects, and 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. [18] For example, wooden construction elements from the Viking archaeological site at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland were dated by identifying the 14
C spike of 993 CE in a sequence of tree-rings, which showed that the wood is from a tree felled in 1021 CE, thus definitely confirming Viking presence in the Americas at least before 1021 CE. [19] Another study performed on the tree-rings of wooden building remains from the Neolithic waterlogged site of Dispilio in north-western Greece, identified the Miyake event of 5259 BC, thus for a first time absolutely dating a Neolithic site in Europe from the 6th millennium BC to a single calendar year. [20]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Radiocarbon dating</span> Method of determining the age of objects

Radiocarbon dating is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon, a radioactive isotope of carbon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">774</span> Calendar year

Year 774 (DCCLXXIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 774 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maunder Minimum</span> Period of low solar activity, 1645–1715

The Maunder Minimum, also known as the "prolonged sunspot minimum", was a period around 1645 to 1715 during which sunspots became exceedingly rare. During the 28-year period 1672–1699 within the minimum, observations revealed fewer than 50 sunspots. This contrasts with the typical 40,000–50,000 sunspots seen in modern times over a similar timespan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dendrochronology</span> Method of dating based on the analysis of patterns of tree rings

Dendrochronology is the scientific method of dating tree rings to the exact year they were formed in a tree. As well as dating them, this can give data for dendroclimatology, the study of climate and atmospheric conditions during different periods in history from the wood of old trees. Dendrochronology derives from the Ancient Greek dendron, meaning "tree", khronos, meaning "time", and -logia, "the study of".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">993</span> Calendar year

Year 993 (CMXCIII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paleoclimatology</span> Study of changes in ancient climate

Paleoclimatology is the scientific study of climates predating the invention of meteorological instruments, when no direct measurement data were available. As instrumental records only span a tiny part of Earth's history, the reconstruction of ancient climate is important to understand natural variation and the evolution of the current climate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carbon-14</span> Isotope of carbon

Carbon-14, C-14, 14C or radiocarbon, is a radioactive isotope of carbon with an atomic nucleus containing 6 protons and 8 neutrons. Its presence in organic matter is the basis of the radiocarbon dating method pioneered by Willard Libby and colleagues (1949) to date archaeological, geological and hydrogeological samples. Carbon-14 was discovered on February 27, 1940, by Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben at the University of California Radiation Laboratory in Berkeley, California. Its existence had been suggested by Franz Kurie in 1934.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solar cycle</span> Periodic change in the Suns activity

The solar cycle, also known as the solar magnetic activity cycle, sunspot cycle, or Schwabe cycle, is a nearly periodic 11-year change in the Sun's activity measured in terms of variations in the number of observed sunspots on the Sun's surface. Over the period of a solar cycle, levels of solar radiation and ejection of solar material, the number and size of sunspots, solar flares, and coronal loops all exhibit a synchronized fluctuation from a period of minimum activity to a period of a maximum activity back to a period of minimum activity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beryllium-10</span> Isotope of beryllium

Beryllium-10 (10Be) is a radioactive isotope of beryllium. It is formed in the Earth's atmosphere mainly by cosmic ray spallation of nitrogen and oxygen. Beryllium-10 has a half-life of 1.39 × 106 years, and decays by beta decay to stable boron-10 with a maximum energy of 556.2 keV. It decays through the reaction 10Be→10B + e−. Light elements in the atmosphere react with high energy galactic cosmic ray particles. The spallation of the reaction products is the source of 10Be (t, u particles like n or p):

Beryllium (4Be) has 11 known isotopes and 3 known isomers, but only one of these isotopes is stable and a primordial nuclide. As such, beryllium is considered a monoisotopic element. It is also a mononuclidic element, because its other isotopes have such short half-lives that none are primordial and their abundance is very low. Beryllium is unique as being the only monoisotopic element with both an even number of protons and an odd number of neutrons. There are 25 other monoisotopic elements but all have odd atomic numbers, and even numbers of neutrons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minoan eruption</span> Major volcanic eruption around 1600 BCE

The Minoan eruption was a catastrophic volcanic eruption that devastated the Aegean island of Thera circa 1600 BCE. It destroyed the Minoan settlement at Akrotiri, as well as communities and agricultural areas on nearby islands and the coast of Crete with subsequent earthquakes and paleotsunamis. With a Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) of 7, it resulted in the ejection of approximately 28–41 km3 (6.7–9.8 cu mi) of dense-rock equivalent (DRE), the eruption was one of the largest volcanic events in human history. Since tephra from the Minoan eruption serves as a marker horizon in nearly all archaeological sites in the Eastern Mediterranean, its precise date is of high importance and has been fiercely debated among archaeologists and volcanologists for decades, without coming to a definite conclusion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carrington Event</span> Geomagnetic storm in 1859

The Carrington Event was the most intense geomagnetic storm in recorded history, peaking on 1–2 September 1859 during solar cycle 10. It created strong auroral displays that were reported globally and caused sparking and even fires in telegraph stations. The geomagnetic storm was most likely the result of a coronal mass ejection (CME) from the Sun colliding with Earth's magnetosphere.

Superflares are very strong explosions observed on stars with energies up to ten thousand times that of typical solar flares. The stars in this class satisfy conditions which should make them solar analogues, and would be expected to be stable over very long time scales. The original nine candidates were detected by a variety of methods. No systematic study was possible until the launch of the Kepler space telescope, which monitored a very large number of solar-type stars with very high accuracy for an extended period. This showed that a small proportion of stars had violent outbursts. In many cases there were multiple events on the same star. Younger stars were more likely to flare than old ones, but strong events were seen on stars as old as the Sun.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">774–775 carbon-14 spike</span> Observed increase concentration of carbon-14 in tree rings dated 774 or 775

The 774–775 carbon-14 spike is an observed increase of around 1.2% in the concentration of the radioactive carbon-14 isotope in tree rings dated to 774 or 775 CE, which is about 20 times higher than the normal year-to-year variation of radiocarbon in the atmosphere. It was discovered during a study of Japanese cedar tree-rings, with the year of occurrence determined through dendrochronology. A surge in beryllium-10 (10Be), detected in Antarctic ice cores, has also been associated with the 774–775 event. The 774–775 CE carbon-14 spike is one of several Miyake events and it produced the largest and most rapid rise in carbon-14 ever recorded.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solar particle event</span> Solar phenomenon

In solar physics, a solar particle event (SPE), also known as a solar energetic particle event or solar radiation storm, is a solar phenomenon which occurs when particles emitted by the Sun, mostly protons, become accelerated either in the Sun's atmosphere during a solar flare or in interplanetary space by a coronal mass ejection shock. Other nuclei such as helium and HZE ions may also be accelerated during the event. These particles can penetrate the Earth's magnetic field and cause partial ionization of the ionosphere. Energetic protons are a significant radiation hazard to spacecraft and astronauts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">946 eruption of Paektu Mountain</span> Major volcanic eruption in Korea

The 946 eruption of Paektu Mountain, a stratovolcano on the border of North Korea and China also known as Changbaishan, occurred in late 946 CE. This event is known as the Millennium Eruption or Tianchi eruption. It is one of the most powerful volcanic eruptions in recorded history; classified at least a VEI 6.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">993–994 carbon-14 spike</span> Solar storm

The 993–994 carbon-14 spike was a rapid 0.91% increase in carbon-14 isotope content from tree rings dated 993-994 CE. This event was also confirmed with an associated increase of beryllium-10 in Antarctic ice core samples, supporting the hypothesis that this event was of solar origin. There were several astronomical observations during this time that correspond with the 14C and 10Be spikes, but these texts are few and far between.

Fusa Miyake is a cosmic ray physicist at Nagoya University, Japan, whose work measuring isotope abundances led to recognition of so-called Miyake events. These have resulted in reconciling differences between dates from documents and materials such as ice-cores and tree rings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ilya G. Usoskin</span> Finnish Astrophysicist

Ilya G. Usoskin is a Finnish astrophysicist who is a professor at University of Oulu and head of Cosmic Ray Station at Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory. He is a Vice President of the International Astronomical Union since 2021.

References

  1. ↑ Kirby, Jane (9 October 2023). "Biggest ever solar storm identified using ancient tree rings". The Independent. Archived from the original on 10 October 2023. Retrieved 9 October 2023.
  2. ↑ Brehm, Nicolas; Christl, Marcus; Knowles, Timothy D. J.; Casanova, Emmanuelle; Evershed, Richard P.; Adolphi, Florian; et al. (7 March 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.
  3. ↑ 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. arXiv: 1302.6897 . Bibcode:2013A&A...552L...3U. doi: 10.1051/0004-6361/201321080 .
  4. 1 2 Cliver, Edward W.; Schrijver, Carolus; Shibata, Kazunari; Usoskin, Ilya G. (2022). "Extreme solar events". Living Reviews in Solar Physics. 19 (1): 2. arXiv: 2205.09265 . Bibcode:2022LRSP...19....2C. doi: 10.1007/s41116-022-00033-8 .
  5. ↑ Maehara, Hiroyuki; Shibayama, Takuya; Notsu, Shota; Notsu, Yuta; Nagao, Takashi; Kusaba, Satoshi; Honda, Satoshi; Nogami, Daisaku; Shibata, Kazunari (May 2012). "Superflares on solar-type stars". Nature. 485 (7399): 478–481. Bibcode:2012Natur.485..478M. doi:10.1038/nature11063. PMID   22622572.
  6. ↑ Zhang, Qingyuan; Sharma, Utkarsh; Dennis, Jordan A.; Scifo, Andrea; Kuitems, Margot; Büntgen, Ulf; Owens, Mathew J.; Dee, Michael W.; Pope, Benjamin J. S. (October 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.
  7. 1 2 Miyake, Fusa; Usoskin, Ilya; Poluianov, Stepan, eds. (2019). Extreme Solar Particle Storms. doi:10.1088/2514-3433/ab404a. ISBN   978-0-7503-2232-4.[ page needed ]
  8. ↑ Kornei, Katherine (6 March 2023). "Mystery of Ancient Space Superstorms Deepens". Scientific American.
  9. ↑ Alex Wilkins (9 October 2023). "Largest known solar storm struck Earth 14,300 years ago". New Scientist. 260 (3460): 9. Bibcode:2023NewSc.260Q...9W. doi:10.1016/S0262-4079(23)01892-4.
  10. 1 2 Bard, Edouard; et al. (9 October 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. 381 (2261). Bibcode:2023RSPTA.38120206B. doi:10.1098/rsta.2022.0206. PMC   10586540 . PMID   37807686.
  11. ↑ "Largest Ever Solar Storm Identified in Ancient Tree Rings – Could Devastate Modern Technology and Cost Billions". SciTechDaily. 9 October 2023. Archived from the original on 11 October 2023. Retrieved 9 October 2023.
  12. ↑ 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 (7 March 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.
  13. ↑ Cosmic-ray Research Division (17 November 2021). "Radiocarbon (14C)". Nagoya, Japan: Institute for Space–Earth Environmental Research, Nagoya University. Archived from the original on 29 May 2024. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
  14. ↑ Miyake, Fusa; Nagaya, Kentaro; Masuda, Kimiaki; Nakamura, Toshio (14 June 2012). "A signature of cosmic-ray increase in ad 774–775 from tree rings in Japan". Nature. 486 (7402): 240–242. Bibcode:2012Natur.486..240M. doi:10.1038/nature11123. PMID   22699615.
  15. ↑ Usoskin, Ilya; Kovaltsov, Gennady (2012). "Occurrence of Extreme Solar Particle Events: Assessment from Historical Proxy Data". Astrophysical Journal. 757 (1): 92. arXiv: 1207.5932 . Bibcode:2012ApJ...757...92U. doi: 10.1088/0004-637X/757/1/92 .
  16. ↑ 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.
  17. ↑ "Faculty Profiles: MIYAKE Fusa". Nagoya University . Archived from the original on 14 October 2023. Retrieved 17 October 2023. Degree: 博士（理学）（ 2013.12 名古屋大学 ）
  18. ↑ Price, Michael (13 April 2023). "Marking time: Cosmic ray storms can pin precise dates on history from ancient Egypt to the Vikings". Science. doi:10.1126/science.adi2040.
  19. ↑ Kuitems, Margot; Wallace, Birgitta L.; Lindsay, Charles; Scifo, Andrea; Doeve, Petra; Jenkins, Kevin; Lindauer, Susanne; Erdil, Pınar; Ledger, Paul M.; Forbes, Véronique; Vermeeren, Caroline; Friedrich, Ronny; Dee, Michael W. (20 January 2022). "Evidence for European presence in the Americas in ad 1021". Nature. 601 (7893): 388–391. Bibcode:2022Natur.601..388K. doi:10.1038/s41586-021-03972-8. PMC   8770119 . PMID   34671168. S2CID   239051036.
  20. ↑ Maczkowski, Andrej; Pearson, Charlotte; Francuz, John; Giagkoulis, Tryfon; Szidat, Sönke; Wacker, Lukas; Bolliger, Matthias; Kotsakis, Kostas; Hafner, Albert (20 May 2024). "Absolute dating of the European Neolithic using the 5259 BC rapid 14C excursion". Nature Communications. 15 (1): 4263. doi:10.1038/s41467-024-48402-1. PMC   11106086 . PMID   38769301.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.