Extreme Events
in the Radiocarbon Record
Miyake Events
774-775 AD
Miyake et al, 2012
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle:
774 AD
“This year also appeared in the heavens a red crucifix, after sunset; the Mercians and the men of Kent fought at Otford; and wonderful serpents were seen in the land of the South-Saxons.”
Allen, 2012
Also in 993-994 AD
Miyake et al, 2013
Comparison
Miyake et al, 2013
5480 BC
Miyake et al, 2017
Ancient Egypt
Uncertain chronology
Dee et al., 2013
Solved by Miyake events?
Dee et al., 2016A
Finding Further Events
Dee and Pope, 2016b
Changbaishan Eruption
Dated to 946 CE from a buried tree showing the 775 event
Oppenheimer et al., 2017
Rules out previous hypothesis that it contributed to collapse of the Bohai Kingdom (Manchuria/Korea) in 926 CE
Por-Bajin
Uyghur island 'fortress' in Siberia
Dated to 777 CE by tree rings
Resolves mystery!
Ruler Tengri Bögü Khan converted to Manichaeism and built this monastery after 777
... but was overthrown and Manichaeism abandoned in 779.
Supernovae?
No!
Dee, Pope et al., 2016a
The Sun
Carrington Event
F.E. Church, "Aurora Borealis", 1865.
Superflares in Kepler
Maehara et al., 2012
Superflares vs. the Sun
Shibata et al., 2013
Atmospheric yields
Mekhaldi et al., 2015
774-5 AD Isotopes
Mekhaldi et al., 2015
993-4 AD Isotopes
Mekhaldi et al., 2015
Estimated Flux
Mekhaldi et al., 2015
Cause still unknown!
Magnetars?
Connection to fast radio bursts?
Open-Source Software
Working with Utkarsh Sharma & Qingyuan Zhang
