Solar Activity and Earth’s Atmosphere, a Re-evaluation

The Sun experiences 22 year cycles where its magnetic poles reverse every 11 years giving rise to sunspots.In 1801 William Herschel suggested the price of wheat in London was indirectly controlled by sunspots based on his personal observations that less rain fell when there were few spots. Seasonal flooding of Lake Chad followed an 11-year cycle that influenced rain in the catchment area.In 1977 Herman and Goldberg compiled Sun, Weather, and Climate to explain the then recognized relationship between solar activity and Earth's weather. The introduction included "A growing mass of evidence suggests that transient events on the Sun affect our weather, and long-term variations of the Sun's energy output affect our climate. Solar terrestrial exploration can help establish the physical cause and effect relationships between solar stimuli and terrestrial responses. When these relationships are understood, science will have an essential tool for weather and climate prediction."When a large coronal mass ejection containing energetic ionized particles from the Sun strikes Earth's atmosphere the impact may be seen as auroras in northern and southern hemispheres. A resulting ground level enhancement (GLE) can trigger neutron monitors in northern and southern hemispheres within 10 minutes. Neutrons are created by nuclear reactions in the atmosphere and when captured by nitrogen form carbon-14. Protons with energy of about 20 MeV striking nitrogen can create beryllium-10. Protons with energy 40 to 60 MeV striking argon (the third most abundant gas in Earth's atmosphere) can create chlorine-36. Concurrent creation of carbon-14, beryllium-10 and chlorine-36 in the northern and southern hemispheres are rare but have been observed and are labeled as Miyake events after the Japanese physicist who first found the telltale deposits. The scientific literature is silent on these low energy nuclear reactions happening in Earth's atmosphere.Solar activity damages power and communications, influences weather and climate, and leaves traces in tree rings and sediments. This book analyses results from nuclear physics, neutron monitors, spacecraft, and scientific papers, and books, to examine causes and effects.Historical observations and carbon-14 reconstructed sunspot numbers show that long-term solar activity declined rapidly from about 1600. The Joseon Dynasty of Korea declined due to the combined effects of internal and external factors which included reduced solar activity. Prolonged adverse climate conditions, frequent pest outbreaks, and repeated cycles of famine and epidemic gradually eroded society's foundations, ultimately weakening the dynasty's internal vitality to such an extent that it could not withstand foreign invasions, leading to its collapse.Arrival of a high-speed solar stream at Earth coincided with a small but rapid decrease in galactic cosmic ray flux (Forbush decrease), a moderate increase in lower energy solar energetic protons (SEPs), and a substantial, increase in lightning rates across Europe.Correlation has been observed between the yearly lightning rates and sunspot number in eastern Africa, part of South America overlapping with the South Atlantic Anomaly, the Indian Ocean and west coast of Australia.A correlation was also found with Lake Victoria, the Ohio River, the High Plains and the Western United States.El Niño refers to anomalous warming in the eastern equatorial Pacific and has been studied for nearly five decades. El Niño Modoki has been recognized in recent studies, whose maximum warming arises in the central Pacific and then extends eastward over time. A 2016 study found a clear evolution of El Niño Modoki events within 1-3 years following each solar peak year during the previous 126 years.