Solar particles destroy ozone: how does cosmic radiation threaten the Earth?

Scientists have discovered that powerful solar particle emissions can cause serious damage to the Earth’s ozone layer. This could lead to an increase in the level of ultraviolet radiation on the planet’s surface within a few years.

The recent research has shown that a powerful solar particle emission can deplete the ozone layer and increase the level of ultraviolet radiation on the surface and increase DNA damage. However, the situation becomes critical when such an emission coincides with a period of weakness in the Earth’s magnetic field In this case, ozone damage will last for six years, and UV levels will increase by 25%. This will lead to a 50% increase in DNA damage from solar radiation.

The Earth’s magnetic field provides critical protection against solar radiation. It acts like a giant magnet, deflecting charged particles. However, the strength of the field changes over time. Over the past century, the north magnetic pole has shifted by 40 kilometers per year, and the total field strength decreased by 6%.

The geologic record shows periods when the Earth’s magnetic field was very weak or non-existent. The consequences of this can be seen in the example of Mars, which lost its global magnetic field in the distant past, and with it most of the atmosphere.

Scientists have discovered traces of extremely powerful solar eventsSolar events, also known as solar flares or solar storms, are powerful emissions of energetic particles, mostly protons, from the surface of the Sun in Earth’s history. Some of them were thousands of times stronger than anything recorded by modern instruments. Such extreme events occur about once every few millennia. The last such phenomenon occurred around 993 AD.

Researchers suggest that the combination of a weak magnetic field and extreme solar events could have influenced the evolution of life on Earth. For example, the last period of weak magnetic field, which began 42,000 years ago and lasted approximately 1000 years, coincided with the disappearance of Neanderthals in Europe and the extinction of marsupial megafauna in Australia.

Scientists also link the origin of multicellular animals at the end of the Ediacaran periodThe Ediacaran period (or Ediacaran) is the last period of the Precambrian era, which lasted from about 635 to 541 million years ago. and the rapid evolution of diverse animal groups during the Cambrian explosionThe Cambrian explosion was a relatively short period (approximately 13-25 million years) that occurred at the beginning of the Cambrian era, during which many major animal groups appeared. This period lasted from approximately 541 to 520 million years ago and is characterized by a dramatic increase in the diversity of complex multicellular organisms. with geomagnetism and high levels of ultraviolet radiation. Particularly noteworthy is the simultaneous evolution of eyes and hard body shells in several unrelated groups of animals. Unrelated groups are defined as organisms that do not share a common close ancestor and belong to different evolutionary branches. For example, mollusks, arthropods, and vertebrates developed eyes independently of each other. Scientists consider this parallel evolution as the best way to detect and avoid harmful UV rays.

Source: Space, Wikipedia