Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T21:15:15.766Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Climate change via CO2 drawdown from astrophysically initiated atmospheric ionization?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 May 2020

Adrian L. Melott Open the ORCID record for Adrian L. Melott [Opens in a new window] ,
Brian C. Thomas  and
Brian D. Fields
Adrian L. Melott*
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS66045, USA
Brian C. Thomas
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Washburn University, Topeka, Kansas66621, USA
Brian D. Fields
Affiliation:
Department of Astronomy and Department of Physics, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL61801, USA
*
Author for correspondence: Adrian L. Melott, E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Motivated by the occurrence of a moderately nearby supernova near the beginning of the Pleistocene, possibly as part of a long-term series beginning in the Miocene, we investigated whether nitrate rainout resulting from the atmospheric ionization of enhanced cosmic ray flux could have, through its fertilizer effect, initiated carbon dioxide drawdown. Such a drawdown could possibly reduce the greenhouse effect and induce the climate change that led to the Pleistocene glaciations. We estimate that the nitrogen flux enhancement onto the surface from an event at 50 pc would be of order 10%, probably too small for dramatic changes. We estimate deposition of iron (another potential fertilizer) and find it is also too small to be significant. There are also competing effects of opposite sign, including muon irradiation and reduction in photosynthetic yield caused by UV increase from stratospheric ozone layer depletion, leading to an ambiguous result. However, if the atmospheric ionization induces a large increase in the frequency of lightning, as argued elsewhere, the amount of nitrate synthesis should be much larger, dominate over the other effects and induce the climate change. More work needs to be done to clarify the effects on lightning frequency.

Keywords

Climate changeglaciationsupernovae
Type
Research Article
Information
International Journal of Astrobiology , Volume 19 , Issue 5 , October 2020 , pp. 349 - 352
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Athanassiadou, T and Fields, BD (2011) Penetration of nearby supernova dust in the inner solar system. New Astronomy 16, 229.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bartoli, G, Honisch, B and Zeebe, RE (2011) Atmospheric CO2 decline during the Pliocene intensification of Northern Hemisphere glaciations. Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology 26, PA4213.Google Scholar
Benca, JP, Duijnstee, IAP and Looy, CV (2018) UV-B-induced forest sterility: implications of ozone shield failure in Earth's largest extinction. Science Advances 4, e1700618.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Benítez, N, Maíz-Apellániz, J and Canelles, M (1999) Evidence for nearby supernova explosions. Physical Review Letters 88, 08110101.Google Scholar
Binns, WR, Israel, MH and Christian, ER (2016) Observation of the 60Fe nucleosynthesis-clock isotope in galactic cosmic rays. Science 352, 677.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Breitschwerdt, D, Feige, J, Schulreich, MM, de Avillez, MA, Dettbarn, C and Fuchs, B (2016) Unveiling recent supernovae near Earth by modeling 60Fe transport onto the deep sea crust. Nature 532, 73–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cawthra, H (2019) Emergence of the African savannah. Nature Geoscience 12, 588.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duce, RA, Tindale and Neil, W (1991) Atmospheric transport of iron and its deposition in the ocean. Limnology and Oceanography 36, 1715.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ellis, J, Fields, BD and Schramm, DN (1996) Geological isotope anomalies as signatures of nearby supernovae. Astrophysical Journal 470, 1227.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Faith, JT, Rowan, J, Du, A and Koch, PL (2018) Plio-Pleistocene decline of African megaherbivores: no evidence for ancient hominin impacts. Science 362, 938.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fimiani, L, Cook, DL, Faestermann, T, Gómez-Guzmán, JM, Hain, K, Herzog, G, Knie, K, Korschinek, G, Ludwig, P, Park, J, Reedy, RC and Rugel, G (2016) Interstellar 60Fe on the surface of the moon. Physical Review Letters 116, 151104.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fry, BJ, Fields, BD and Ellis, JR (2016) Radioactive iron rain: transporting 60Fe in supernova dust to the ocean floor. Astrophysical Journal 828, 48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ganeshram, RS, Pedersen, TF, Calvert, SE and Murray, JW (1995) Large changes in ocean nutrient inventories from glacial to interglacial periods. Nature 376, 755.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hamilton, DS, Moore, JK, Arneth, A, Bond, TC, Carslaw, KS, Hantson, S, Ito, A, Kaplan, JO, Lindsay, K, Nieradzik, L, Rathod, SD, Scanza, RA and Mahowald, NM (2020) Impact of changes to the atmospheric soluble iron deposition flux on ocean biogeochemical cycles in the Anthropocene. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 34, e2019GB006448.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keenan, TF, Prentice, IC and Canadell, JG (2016) Recent pause in the growth rate of atmospheric CO2 due to enhanced terrestrial carbon uptake. Nature Communications 7, 13428.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Le Quere, C, Moriarty, R, Andrew, RM, Canadell, JG, Sitch, S, Korsbakken, JI, Friedlingstein, P, Peters, GP, Andres, RJ, Boden, TA, Houghton, RA, House, JI, Keeling, RF, Tans, P, Arneth, A, Bakker, DCE, Barbero, L, Bopp, L, Chang, J, Chevallier, F, Chini, LP, Ciais, P, Fader, M, Feely, RA, Gkritzalis, T, Harris, I, Hauck, J, Ilyina, T, Jain, AK, Kato, E, Kitidis, V, Klein Goldewijk, K, Koven, C, Landschutzer, P, Lauvset, SK, Lefevre, N, Lenton, A, Lima, ID, Metzl, N, Millero, F, Munro, DR, Murata, A, Nabel, JEMS, Nakaoka, S, Nojiri, Y, O'Brien, K, Olsen, A, Ono, T, Perez, FF, Pfeil, B, Pierrot, D, Poulter, B, Rehder, G, Rodenbeck, C, Saito, S, Schuster, U, Schwinger, J, Seferian, R, Steinhoff, T, Stocker, BD, Sutton, AJ, Takahashi, T, Tilbrook, B, van der Laan-Luijkx, IT, van der Werf, GR, van Heuven, S, Vandemark, D, Viovy, N, Wiltshire, A, Zaehle, S and Zeng, N (2015) Global Carbon Budget. Earth System Science Data 7, 349.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Llabrés, M, Agusti, S and Fernandez, M (2013) Impact of elevated UVB radiation on marine biota: a meta-analysis. Global Ecology and Biogeography 22, 131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ludwig, P, Bishop, S, Egli, R., Chernenko, V, Deneva, B, Faestermann, T, Famulok, N., Fimiani, L, Gomez-Guzman, JM, Hain, K, Korschinek, G, Hanzlik, M, Merchel, S and Rugel, G (2016) Time-resolved 2-million-year-old supernova activity discovered in Earth's microfossil record. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 113, 9232.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mamajek, EE (2016) A Pre-Gaia Census of Nearby Stellar Groups. in Proceedings of IAU Symposium 314, Young Stars & Planets Near the Sun, ed. J. H. Kastner, B. Stelzer, & S. A. Metchev (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press), p. 21. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1743921315006250CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mancinelli, RL and McKay, CP (1988) Evolution of Nitrogen Cycling. Origins of Life 18, 311–325.Google ScholarPubMed
Melott, AL, Thomas, BC, Hogan, DP, Ejzak, LM and Jackman, CH (2005) Climatic and biogeochemical effects of a galactic gamma-ray burst. Geophysical Research Letters 32, L14808.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Melott, AL (2016) Supernovae in the Neighbourhood. Nature 532, 40.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Melott, AL and Thomas, BC (2018) Terrestrial effects of moderately nearby supernovae. Lethaia 51, 325.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Melott, AL and Thomas, BC (2019) From cosmic explosions to terrestrial fires? Journal of Geology 127, 475–481.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Melott, AL, Thomas, BC, Kachelries, M, Semikoz, DV and Overholt, AC (2017) A supernova at 50 pc: effects on the earth's atmosphere and biota. Astrophysical Journal 840, 105.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Melott, AL, Marinho, F and Paulucci, L (2019) Muon radiation dose and marine megafaunal extinction at the end-pliocene supernova. Astrobiology 19, 825–830.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Neale, JP and Thomas, BC (2016) Solar irradiance changes and phytoplankton productivity in earth's ocean following astrophysical ionizing radiation events. Astrobiology 16, 245.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Neuenswander, B and Melott, AL (2015) Nitrate deposition following an astrophysical ionizing radiation event. Advances in Space Research 55, 2946.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oesch, LE (2016) Nitrogen isotope changes in the equatorial Atlantic during the Plio-Pleistocene Transition. 14th Swiss Geoscience Meeting, Geneva.Google Scholar
Peng, S, Liao, H, Zhou, T and Peng, S (2017) Effects of UVB radiation on freshwater biota: a meta-analysis. Global Ecology and Biogeography 26, 500.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reiners, PW and Turchyn, AV (2018) Extraterrestrial dust, the marine lithologic record, and global biogeochemical cycles. Geology 46, 863. https://doi.org/10.1130/G45040.1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schlesinger, WH and Bernhardt, ES (2013) Biogeochemistry. Waltham, MA, USA: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Shen, J, Pearson, A, Henkes, GA, Zhang, YG and Chen, K (2018) Improved efficiency of the biological pump as a trigger for the Late Ordovician glaciation. Nature Geoscience 11, 510.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Summers, D and Chang, S (1993) Prebiotic ammonia from reduction of nitrite by iron (II) on the early earth. Nature 365, 630.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thomas, BC (2018) Photobiological effects at earth's surface following a 50 pc supernova. Astrobiology 18, 481.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thomas, BC and Honeyman, MD (2008) Amphibian nitrate stress as an additional terrestrial threat from astrophysical ionizing radiation events? Astrobiology 8, 731.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thomas, BC, Melott, AL, Jackman, CH, Laird, CM, Medvedev, MV, Stolarski, RS, Gehrels, N, Cannizzo, JK, Hogan, DP and Ejzak, JM (2005) Gamma-ray bursts and the earth: exploration of atmospheric, biological, climatic, and biogeochemical effects. Astrophysical Journal 634, 509.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomas, RQ, Canham, CD and Weathers, KC (2009) Increased tree carbon storage in response to nitrogen deposition in the US. Nature Geoscience 3, 13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomas, BC, Engler, EE, Kachelreis, M, Melott, AL, Overholt, AC and Semikoz, DV (2016) Terrestrial effects of nearby supernovae in the early Pleistocene. Astrophysical Journal Letters 826, L3.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wallner, A, Feige, J, Kinoshita, N, Paul, M, Fifield, LK, Golser, R, Honda, M, Linnemann, U, Matsuzaki, H, Merchel, S, Rugel, G, Tims, SG, Steier, P, Yamagata, T and Winkler, SR (2016) Recent near-Earth supernovae probed by global deposition of interstellar radioactive 60Fe. Nature 532, 69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar