Ancient pine stumps in the French Alps record the most powerful known solar storm. It struck Earth 14,300 years ago & seeded the atmosphere with radioactive carbon-14.
@coreyspowell Now I'm curious: if there was a spike in carbon-14 levels 14,300 years ago, I assume there have been other variations in the amount of carbon-14 in our atmosphere. Does that create problems for carbon dating, or is that something the carbon dating process already accounts for?
@Hawkmoon@coreyspowell Carbon-14 isn't all that dangerous. It gives off an extremely low level of radiation. Low enough that it's unlikely to hurt anyone. But the disruption to our satellites could mess up navigation for ships and planes, among other issues, which could put many people's lives at immediate risk if a solar storm like that hit us today.
This NASA visualization shows how a solar super-storm, comparable to the Carrington event of 1859, reshapes Earth's magnetic field & generates intense electromagnetic effects.
@coreyspowell Considering during the Carrington event telegraph lines sparked and reportedly caused fires, are we at risk of an insane number of wildfires starting everywhere at once?
@coreyspowell As I recall the grid would disconnect, and then restart. That said, the number of things that could throw everyone for a loop (asteroid, CME impact, supervolcano eruption) and I wonder if we'd be able to work together to get back on track.
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