Supernova explosions may have helped shape Earth's climate history

[admin]

Nearby supernovas have left a series of possible fingerprints in the tree-ring record here on Earth over the past 40,000 years, potentially disrupting our planet's climate multiple times over this span.

Supernova explosions may have helped shape Earth's climate history : Read more

 

[Chem721]

One minor correction to the story. Carbon -14 is produced in the atmosphere by radiation of Nitrogen-14.

The story has some interesting points. Unfortunately, the precise dating of the supernovas is a major problem with this approach. It noted an increase of 3% for the period around the Vela SN.

One wonders what the range of variations in Carbon-14 increases due purely to solar "events" might be. If this 3% increase is well within the range of a solar event, it seems kind of questionable. Perhaps more data will clarify the issue.

 

[TorbjornLarsson]

Agreed, it's all very fuzzy. The gamma ray distribution differ from the cosmic ray sources [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_ray , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma-ray_burst ] and it is a problem with modeling both timing and effects.