[meteorite-list] Meteorites Used To Study Solar Activity AT LAST!!!

From: Rob McCafferty <rob_mccafferty_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed Sep 27 18:00:47 2006
Message-ID: <20060927220046.31710.qmail_at_web50910.mail.yahoo.com>

Hi all

This phenomena of cosmic ray alteration of isotope
concentration has been known to me for a long while.

As solar activity increases, it deflects the cosmic
rays which reduces the effect of cosmic rays.

On earth, one of it's best effects is altering the
amount of Carbon 14 (C14) prodced during periods of
high solar activity. C14 has a known half-life of
approx 5800 years and is created constantly so all
things once living have a known amount of it. Once
they die, this proportion decreases.

Less well known is that year on year, the proportion
of C12/C14 changes according to solar activity.
Correction factors have to be made in carbon dating.

Individual tree rings can be measured for actual vs
predicted C12/C14 ratios and a picture of solar
activity can be build up.

This method shows several things

Tree rings from 1640 to 1710 show a big increase in
C14 vs predicted signifying a low solar activity. This
roughly corresponds to a period of low temperature.
The Thames in London used to freeze each winter and
was so thick fairs could be held on the ice.

It suggests that in Roman times, temperatures were
even warmer than today. Grapes can only be grown in
south east England today. Back then they could be
grown North of York.

It also suggests a general increase in solar activity
over the last few hundred years, since the Maunder
minimum, in fact. We're on a rise now, apparently.

If meteorites are also showing this trend, some
credence must be give to the "The Human Race is a
bunch of arrogant idiots who think they are more
influential in the Grand Scheme of Things than they
really are" school of thought which I aspire to
ascribe.

Equally, I suggest that this blip in the epochs of
time should be a timely reminder not to mess with
things too much as we really have no idea how much
influence we really have.

Just my thoughts for the subject.

(DISCLAIMER: this post was not sponsored by
Shell/BP/XXon/FINA/Texaco or any other petrolium
industry, etc. The author cannot discount the
possibility that the original meteorite study may have
been. He would like to distance himself from any
suggestions to that effect....

I think that puts me in the clear)

Anon (just in case)



--- "Matson, Robert" <ROBERT.D.MATSON_at_saic.com> wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> Who'da thunk that global warming could become an
> on-topic
> subject for the meteorite list?! --Rob
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: meteorite-list-bounces_at_meteoritecentral.com
> [mailto:meteorite-list-bounces_at_meteoritecentral.com]
> On Behalf Of Ron
> Baalke
> Sent: Tuesday, September 26, 2006 2:15 PM
> To: Meteorite Mailing List
> Subject: [meteorite-list] Meteorites Used To Study
> Solar Activity
>
>
http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20060926-015940-3936r
>
> Meteorites used to study solar activity
> UPI
> September 26, 2006
>
> OULU, Finland (UPI) -- A Finnish-led international
> team has used
> meteorites to investigate the sun's solar activity
> of past centuries.
>
> Ilya Usoskin at Finland's Sodankyla Geophysical
> Observatory and
> colleagues compared the amount of Titanium 44 in 19
> meteorites that have
> fallen to the Earth the past 240 years. They said
> their findings confirm
> that solar activity increased strongly during the
> 20th century. They
> also find the sun has been particularly active
> during the past few
> decades.
>
> The scientists say studying the sun's activity is
> one of the oldest
> astrophysical projects, as astronomers began
> recording the number of
> sunspots to trace the sun's magnetic activity 400
> years ago.
>
> The team examined a set of 19 meteorites whose dates
> of fall are
> precisely known, measuring the amount of radioactive
> isotope Titanium 44
> in each meteorite. Titanium 44 is produced by the
> cosmic rays in the
> meteorites while they are outside the Earth's
> atmosphere. After the
> meteorite has fallen, it stops producing the
> isotope.
>
> By measuring the Titanium 44 in the meteorites, the
> scientists
> determined the level of solar activity at the time
> the meteorite fell.
>
> The study appears in the journal Astronomy &
> Astrophysics Letters.
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>
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>


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Received on Wed 27 Sep 2006 06:00:45 PM PDT