--- title: "Something Unknown Seems to Blast Earth With Radiation Every Thousand Years or So" description: "Massive spikes of radiation levels on Earth were once believed to be caused by solar flares, but a new study suggests that something else may be driver." date: "2022-10-30" modified: "2022-10-30" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/cosmic-storms-earth-radiation" categories: - "Future Society" tags: - "solar flares" - "solar storms" - "the digest" - "the sun" --- # Something Unknown Seems to Blast Earth With Radiation Every Thousand Years or So ![Massive spikes of radiation levels on Earth were once believed to be caused by solar flares, but a new study suggests that something else may be driver.]() *\Image: Getty Images\* ## Unknown Threat Solar flares were once thought to be responsible for historical spikes in the Earth's radiation levels. But a new study suggests that those spikes of radiation may not be caused by solar flares as once believed, seemingly meaning that something much more powerful — and still unknown to us — may have been responsible instead. "There's a kind of extreme astrophysical phenomenon that we don't understand and it actually could be a threat to us," Benjamin Pope, coauthor of the study and astrophysicist at the University of Queensland, [told the *Australian Broadcasting Corporation*](). The [study](), published Wednesday in the *Proceedings of the Royal Society A*, examined tree rings for spikes of carbon 14, a radioactive isotope of carbon whose increased presence represents spikes in radiation levels on Earth. The radiation upticks, in turn, are caused by mysterious astrophysical events called "Miyake events," so named after [the Japanese scientist that discovered them](). According to Pope, there have been six known Miyake events in the past 10,000 years, with the latest having occurred in 993 CE. Until now, they were believed to be caused by severe solar storms that typically occurred at the 11 year peak of sunspot activity in the solar cycle. ## Off-Cycle But after crunching the data, Pope and his team found that these radiation spikes cropped up all across the solar cycle, not just at its 11 year peak, throwing a big wrench in the prevailing theory. Even stranger is how long some of the spikes lasted. "At least two, maybe three of these events... took longer than a year, which is surprising because that's not going to happen if it's a solar flare," Pope told the *ABC*. The last powerful solar flare to strike our planet occurred in 1859. Known as the Carrington Event, it severely damaged telecommunications infrastructure at the time. In an age heavily reliant on electronics and the internet, a Carrington-like event could be monumentally more devastating today. But ominously, whatever caused the Miyake events would have been up to 100 times more powerful than even the Carrington. ## Sunburst So what ungodly force could have been responsible for these Miyake events? Pope thinks it could be an unholy barrage of solar flares bursting in quick succession. "Not just one solar flare, but recurrent solar flares going off again and again," he explained. As for the odds of experiencing such an event anytime soon, Pope thinks they're slim — but maybe not *that* slim. "Based on available data, there's roughly a one per cent chance of seeing another one within the next decade," Pope said in a [press release](). **More on the sun:** *[Ludicrously Close Up Shots of the Sun Look Nothing Like You'd Expect]()* ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()