Radiocarbon around the Carrington event

Abstract: The Sun is a volatile and complex body, understanding its behaviour is key to the continued operation of modern technology. The Carrington event was a violent white light event and generally believed to have lead to one of the largest solar storms in modern human history. However the event has not been seen clearly in the 14C records analysed in other publications. Here we investigate the Carrington event specifically using the cellulose extracted from tree rings. It was found that there is possible manifestation of the event in the form of an increase in ∆14C of 5 ± 2‰ between 1859 and 1860. This in a noticeable increase but is preceded by a significant decrease for the year ∆14C 1859. The reason for this decrease is unclear and could be due to errors in the experiment itself or an actual manifestation of previously unnoticed solar activity. More data would need to be collected to confirm and investigate the results found in this preliminary study.