SGER: Paleo-Solar Activity Recorded in Arctic Ice Cores

Trustees Of Boston University, Boston

Investigators

Abstract

The over-arching project objective is to investigate 'paleo-solar activity.' The main scientific goal is to reconstruct the unknown history of paleo-solar events and their effect on Earth, as recorded by atmospheric tracers stratified deep in the polar ice caps over the last 1000-2000 years. Such unprecedented knowledge of past impulsive solar events (with timescales of days to weeks) is made possible through recent novel ice core analysis techniques pioneered by project collaborators. Their studies suggest that modern solar events can be identified robustly in high time-resolution (decimal year) nitrate ice core records. Ice core nitrates trace atmospheric nitrates and the processes that create them, including those associated with major, impulsive solar events (i.e., solar cosmic rays). This exploratory study will perform the first quantitative nitrate-solar cosmic ray calibration using shallow (<50 meter) Arctic cores spanning from the Space Age (~1960) to the present. This calibration is an essential first step in our ability to interpret more ancient ice core samples. Several target-of-opportunity ice cores are currently being drilled at Summit, Greenland from another NSF-supported expedition; they will be made available to this team at essentially zero cost. Our proposal requests funding to build an ice core nitrate analysis facility using the most modern techniques, capable of performing exploratory continuous flow analysis of nitrates at decimal year resolution. One immediate goal is of the PI is to develop the research tools, scientific knowledge, and interdisciplinary depth needed to motivate, propose for, and then perform similar analyses on new, deeper, and older ice cores. These larger proposals will provide ample opportunities for both graduate and undergraduate research projects; such opportunities are especially desired for educating the next generation of scientist owing to their highly cross-disciplinary nature. This work has the potential to essentially define a new interdisciplinary scientific area within astronomy, space physics, and earth sciences. 'Paleo-solar' science will study of solar activity over previous millennia as a means to understand not only the Sun's past behavior, but also to provide clues as to the Sun's long-term, future behavior as a star and its concomitant impacts to Earth. The techniques proposed here will, for the first time, reveal these important variations through cross-disciplinary research collaborations with scientists from earth sciences, glaciology, astronomy, cosmic ray, and atmospheric sciences. These studies will have significant relevance to diverse research and technology areas, including the human exploration and development of space, atmospheric science, space physics, and aerospace technology.