Photobiological effects at Earth's surface following a 50 pc Supernova
arXiv:1711.00410 · doi:10.1089/ast.2017.1730
Abstract
We investigated the potential biological impacts at Earth's surface of stratospheric O3 depletion caused by nearby supernovae known to have occurred about 2.5 and 8 million years ago at about 50 pc distance. New and previously published atmospheric chemistry modeling results were combined with radiative transfer modeling to determine changes in surface-level Solar irradiance and biological responses. We find that UVB irradiance is increased by a factor of 1.1 to 2.8, with large variation in latitude, and seasonally at high latitude regions. Changes in UVA and PAR (visible light) are much smaller. DNA damage (in vitro) is increased by factors similar to UVB, while other biological impacts (erythema, skin cancer, cataracts, marine phytoplankton photosynthesis inhibition, and plant damage) are increased by smaller amounts. We conclude that biological impacts due to increased UV irradiance in this SN case are not mass-extinction level, but might be expected to contribute to changes in species abundances; this result fits well with species turnover observed around the Pliocene-Pleistocene boundary.
arXiv commentAccepted for publication in Astrobiology
References in corpus (12)
- Gamma-Ray Bursts and the Earth: Exploration of Atmospheric, Biological, Climatic and Biogeochemical Effects
- Testing the proposed link between cosmic rays and cloud cover
- Evidence for Nearby Supernova Explosions
- Time resolved 2 million year old supernova activity discovered in Earth's microfossil record
- A supernova at 50 pc: Effects on the Earth's atmosphere and biota
- Terrestrial Consequences of Spectral and Temporal Variability in Ionizing Photon Events
- Radioactive Iron Rain: Transporting Fe in Supernova Dust to the Ocean Floor
- Modeling atmospheric effects of the September 1859 Solar Flare
- Terrestrial Effects Of Nearby Supernovae In The Early Pleistocene
- Solar irradiance changes and photobiological effects at Earth's surface following astrophysical ionizing radiation events
- Solar irradiance changes and phytoplankton productivity in Earth's ocean following astrophysical ionizing radiation events
- Lookup tables to compute high energy cosmic ray induced atmospheric ionization and changes in atmospheric chemistry
Cited by in corpus (7)
- Modeling Repeated M-dwarf Flaring at an Earth-like Planet in the Habitable Zone: I. Atmospheric Effects for an Unmagnetized Planet
- Supernova Triggers for End-Devonian Extinctions
- From cosmic explosions to terrestrial fires?
- Terrestrial Effects of Nearby Supernovae: Updated Modeling
- X-Ray Luminous Supernovae: Threats to Terrestrial Biospheres
- Ozone depletion-induced climate change following a 50 pc supernova
- Gamma Rays from UltraCompact Minihaloes: Effects on the Earth's Atmosphere and Links to Mass Extinction Events