The Largest Solar Storm Ever Found Hit Earth 14,300 Years Ago

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About 14,300 years ago, Earth experienced an extreme solar storm far beyond anything directly observed in modern times. Scientists found evidence of it in annual rings from ancient trees preserved near the Drouzet River in the French Alps. The trees recorded an unusually sharp rise in carbon-14, an isotope that can increase when energetic particles from the Sun reach Earth. A matching signal in beryllium from Greenland ice cores helped confirm that the spike was connected to an extreme solar event. Researchers estimate that the event was roughly 10 times stronger than the famous Carrington Event of 1859, which caused major disruption to telegraph systems and produced auroras visible unusually far from the polar regions. The ancient event is considered the largest known event of its kind, although its exact physical nature remains uncertain because no such extreme storm has ever been directly observed with modern instruments. Scientists also do not yet know how frequently events of this scale occur or how reliably they could be predicted. If a comparable storm struck today, researchers have warned that modern power grids, satellites and communication systems could face severe disruption because society depends heavily on electrically powered infrastructure.