FORTUNATELY, AL GORE IS LIKE A TUMS TO THE SUN!:

Sun Burp Blasted Ozone Layer in 1859 (Larry O'Hanlon, Discovery News)

A titanic burp of protons from the sun in 1859 appears to have temporarily weakened Earth's ozone layer, say scientists studying ice cores from Greenland. The evidence of the massive radiation event is in the form of an excessive amount of ozone-related nitrates in the ice from that year.

The huge September 1859 solar flare appears to have gushed 6.5 times the protons of the largest flare seen by modern science -- which was in 1989. By modeling the space storm using nitrate data from the ice -- compared with the modern event also detectable in the ice -- the researchers estimate that more than three times as much ozone was destroyed by the 1859 event than in the 1989 blast.

The discovery is a hint at just how nasty the solar weather can get.

We're gonna need more Pepcid....

Posted by Orrin Judd at March 27, 2007 9:17 AM