Radioactive isotope in ice core record reflects solar activity over 600 years
July 4th, 2009 - 3:22 pm ICT by ANIWashington, July 4 (ANI): Scientists have analyzed Beryllium-10, a radioactive isotope, found from the NGRIP ice core, Greenland, which reflects solar activity over the past 600 years.
Beryllium-10, a radioactive isotope, is produced in cosmic ray showers.
Because stronger solar activity deflects cosmic rays away from Earth, low levels of beryllium-10 correlate with higher solar activity. However, few extensive beryllium-10 records exist.
Now, A.M. Berggren from the Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden, and his colleagues have described a new 600-year beryllium-10 record from the North Greenland Ice Core Project (NGRIP), one of only two beryllium-10 records with annual resolution over several centuries.
Comparing the NGRIP record with the Dye-3 record from another site in Greenland, the researchers found that both show similar long-term trends with some short-term differences between the two sites.
The researchers also compared the NGRIP and Dye-3 data with sunspot records and with neutron data, which tracks cosmic ray intensity.
Their results confirm that ice core beryllium-10 reflects solar cycle variations as well as longer-term trends in solar activity.
They note that while recent beryllium-10 values are low, they do not indicate unusually high solar activity compared with the last 600 years. (ANI)
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Tags: berggren, beryllium, core record, cosmic ray showers, cosmic rays, earth sciences, greenland ice core, greenland ice core project, intensity, neutron data, ngrip, north greenland, radioactive isotope, solar activity, solar cycle variations, sunspot records, term trends, university uppsala, uppsala sweden, uppsala university