Reconstruction of Heliospheric Modulation Potential Based on Radiocarbon Data in the Time Interval 17 000–5000 Years B.C.

Abstract

The results of reconstruction of the heliospheric modulation potential based on radiocarbon data for the time interval 17 000–5000 years B.C. are presented. The considered time interval includes the epochs of the end of the Last Ice Age, the Early and Middle Holocene. Factors affecting the change in the radiocarbon content in the studied samples were taken into account in this reconstruction: the time variation of the global temperature, the change in the Earth’s magnetic field, the increase in the CO₂ concentration in the Earth’s atmosphere during the retreat of glaciation, and changes in vegetation in the Early Holocene. The maximum in 12 380 years B.C., which might correspond to the high activity of the Sun, is notable among the extremes of the modulation potential. Raised values of the heliospheric modulation potential were observed for several hundred years and coincided in time with the Mayendor warming period on Earth.