SGER: Paleo-Solar Activity Recorded in Arctic Ice Cores

该项目的目标是研究“古太阳活动”。“主要的科学目标是重建古太阳事件的未知历史及其对地球的影响，正如过去1000-2000年在极地冰盖深处分层的大气示踪剂所记录的那样。通过项目合作者最近开创的新冰芯分析技术，对过去脉冲太阳事件（时间尺度为几天到几周）的前所未有的了解成为可能。他们的研究表明，现代太阳事件可以在高时间分辨率（十进制）的硝酸盐冰芯记录中得到有力的识别。冰芯硝酸盐追踪大气硝酸盐和产生它们的过程，包括与主要的脉冲太阳事件有关的过程（即，太阳宇宙射线）。这项探索性研究将使用从太空时代（~1960年）至今的浅层（50米）北极芯进行首次定量硝酸盐-太阳宇宙射线校准。这种校准是我们解释更古老的冰芯样本的能力的重要的第一步。几个目标的机会冰芯目前正在钻峰会，格陵兰岛从另一个国家科学基金会支持的探险;他们将提供给这个团队在基本上零成本。我们的提案要求提供资金，建立一个冰芯硝酸盐分析设施，使用最现代的技术，能够进行探索性的连续流动分析的硝酸盐在十进制yearresolution.One当前的目标是PI是开发的研究工具，科学知识，和跨学科的深度需要激励，建议，然后进行类似的分析新的，更深的，和旧的冰芯。这些较大的建议将为研究生和本科生的研究项目提供充足的机会;这种机会是特别需要的教育下一代的科学家，由于其高度跨学科的性质。这项工作有可能在天文学，空间物理学和地球科学中定义一个新的跨学科科学领域。“古太阳”科学将研究上千年的太阳活动，不仅是了解太阳过去行为的一种手段，也是了解太阳作为一颗星星的长期、未来行为及其对地球的影响的一种手段。本文提出的技术将首次通过与地球科学、冰川学、天文学、宇宙射线和大气科学的科学家进行跨学科研究合作，揭示这些重要的变化。这些研究将与不同的研究和技术领域具有重要相关性，包括人类对太空的探索和开发、大气科学、空间物理和航空航天技术。

The over-arching project objective is to investigate 'paleo-solar activity.' The main scientific goal is to reconstruct the unknown history of paleo-solar events and their effect on Earth, as recorded by atmospheric tracers stratified deep in the polar ice caps over the last 1000-2000 years. Such unprecedented knowledge of past impulsive solar events (with timescales of days to weeks) is made possible through recent novel ice core analysis techniques pioneered by project collaborators. Their studies suggest that modern solar events can be identified robustly in high time-resolution (decimal year) nitrate ice core records. Ice core nitrates trace atmospheric nitrates and the processes that create them, including those associated with major, impulsive solar events (i.e., solar cosmic rays). This exploratory study will perform the first quantitative nitrate-solar cosmic ray calibration using shallow (50 meter) Arctic cores spanning from the Space Age (~1960) to the present. This calibration is an essential first step in our ability to interpret more ancient ice core samples. Several target-of-opportunity ice cores are currently being drilled at Summit, Greenland from another NSF-supported expedition; they will be made available to this team at essentially zero cost. Our proposal requests funding to build an ice core nitrate analysis facility using the most modern techniques, capable of performing exploratory continuous flow analysis of nitrates at decimal year resolution.One immediate goal is of the PI is to develop the research tools, scientific knowledge, and interdisciplinary depth needed to motivate, propose for, and then perform similar analyses on new, deeper, and older ice cores. These larger proposals will provide ample opportunities for both graduate and undergraduate research projects; such opportunities are especially desired for educating the next generation of scientist owing to their highly cross-disciplinary nature. This work has the potential to essentially define a new interdisciplinary scientific area within astronomy, space physics, and earth sciences. 'Paleo-solar' science will study of solar activity over previous millennia as a means to understand not only the Sun's past behavior, but also to provide clues as to the Sun's long-term, future behavior as a star and its concomitant impacts to Earth. The techniques proposed here will, for the first time, reveal these important variations through cross-disciplinary research collaborations with scientists from earth sciences, glaciology, astronomy, cosmic ray, and atmospheric sciences. These studies will have significant relevance to diverse research and technology areas, including the human exploration and development of space, atmospheric science, space physics, and aerospace technology.