These eruptions sometimes create a stream of high-energy particles that, when they reach our planet, interact with the magnetosphere, contributing to the formation of auroras. However, if certain conditions exist – for example, if the magnetic field of our planet is oriented towards the south – those of greater intensity are even capable of damaging electrical installations and communication systems. In 1859, one of these solar storms damaged telegraph networks in much of the Northern Hemisphere. The aurora borealis that took place was so impressive that it could be seen from Florida. Many researchers suspect that if it occurred today, it would cause a global disaster, with the loss of numerous satellites and large-scale blackouts for weeks.
Now, a team of scientists from different international institutions, coordinated by geologists from the universities of Lund and Uppsala, in Sweden, affirms that this phenomenon could become much more violent than has been believed. In a study published in the journal Nature Communications , these experts point out that, in fact, the Earth was hit by two solar superstorms just over 1,000 years ago.
To determine this, they have looked for the footprint that these events leave on the concentrations of radioactive carbon present in ice cores in Greenland and Antarctica. Other investigations had already shown a notable increase of the same in the rings of the trees, in the years 774 and 775 and in 993 and 994. However, it was not known with certainty what could have caused them. Those responsible for this new trial claim that their results prove that those responsible were two huge solar storms that exceed anything recorded to date by the measurement instruments used by scholars of the Sun.
