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Recurrent large-scale solar proton events before the onset of the Wolf grand solar minimum
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  • Hiroko Miyahara,
  • Fuyuki Tokanai,
  • Toru Moriya,
  • Mirei Takeyama,
  • Hirohisa Sakurai,
  • Motonari Ohyama,
  • Kazuho Horiuchi,
  • Hideyuki Hotta
Hiroko Miyahara
Humanities and Sciences/Museum Careers, Musashino Art University

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Fuyuki Tokanai
Yamagata University
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Toru Moriya
Yamagata University
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Mirei Takeyama
Yamagata University
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Hirohisa Sakurai
Yamagata University
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Motonari Ohyama
Tohoku University
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Kazuho Horiuchi
Hirosaki University
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Hideyuki Hotta
Department of Physics, Graduate School of Science, Chiba University
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Abstract

Carbon-14 in tree rings have suggested that there had been multiple extreme solar proton events (SPEs) in the past. While the largest events such as in 774–775 CE can be significantly detected by the typical precision of accelerator mass spectrometry, smaller but possibly more frequent events have been difficult to be detected. Thus, the frequency or any characteristics of such relatively smaller events are still largely unknown. In this paper, we report that multiple large SPEs had occurred before the onset of the Wolf grand solar minimum based on high-precision carbon-14 analyses. It is suggested that they had occurred at the maximum and the declining phase of solar cycles, and that they had occurred during the transition time of solar activity into a deep minimum. We propose that this episode may provide a unique opportunity to elucidate a potential interaction between the solar dynamo and extreme solar flares.
16 Mar 2022Published in Geophysical Research Letters volume 49 issue 5. 10.1029/2021GL097201