An international team of scientists has discovered a massive spike in radiocarbon levels 14,300 years ago, which they attribute to the largest solar storm ever identified. The spike was found by analyzing ancient tree-rings from the French Alps. The researchers warn that a similar solar storm today would have devastating effects on modern technological society, potentially causing blackouts, damaging telecommunications and satellite systems, and costing billions of pounds. They emphasize the importance of understanding these types of solar storms to protect our global communications and energy infrastructure in the future. This study provides new insights into the sun’s behavior and the risks it presents to Earth.
https://phys.org/news/2023-10-largest-solar-storm-ancient-year-old.html