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Atmospheric 14C and century-scale solar oscillations

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Abstract

THE solar-wind plasma in our interplanetary space deflects part of the Earth-bound cosmic-ray flux through its magnetic interaction with the electrically charged incoming particles. Because changes in the magnetic properties of the plasma originate at the Sun's surface, the cosmic-ray flux arriving at Earth therefore depends on the changing surface conditions of the Sun. Consequently, by monitoring the variable production rate of cos-mogenic isotopes (such as 14C) in our atmosphere, a time history of changing conditions of the Sun's surface can be obtained. Trees, through carbon dioxide assimilation, lay down a 14C record which provides clues towards the causes underlying 14C production-rate changes. Here we show from maximum-entropy spectral analysis of a 9,600-yr high-precision 14C chronology that changes occur in the Sun's convective zone with a fundamental oscillatory mode of about 2.4 x 10−3 yr−1 (420-yr period), and we also identify several harmonics. Previous searches1–3 for cyclicity in the atmospheric 14C record have yielded periods near 140 and 200 yr. We discuss the implications of a longer and more precise 14C record.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geological Sciences and Quaternary Research Center, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, 98195, USA

    Minze Stuiver & Thomas F. Braziunas

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  1. Minze Stuiver
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  2. Thomas F. Braziunas
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Stuiver, M., Braziunas, T. Atmospheric 14C and century-scale solar oscillations. Nature 338, 405–408 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1038/338405a0

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