Solar cycle variations in ice acidity at the end of the last ice age: Possible marker of a climatically significant interstellar dust incursion

Hammer et al. (Climatic Change 35 (1997) 1) report the presence of regularly spaced acidity peaks ( H + , F - , Cl - ) in the Byrd Station, Antarctica ice core. The event has a duration of about one century and falls at the beginning of the deglacial warming. Volcanism appears to be an unlikely cause since the total acid deposition of this event was about 18 fold greater than the largest known volcanic eruption, and since volcanic eruptions are not known to recur with such regularity. We show that the recurrence period of these peaks averages to 11.5 ± 2.4 years, which approximates the solar cycle period, and suggest that this feature may have an extraterrestrial origin. We propose that this material may mark a period of enhanced interstellar dust and gas influx modulated by the solar cycle. The presence of this material could have made the Sun more active and have been responsible for initiating the warming that ended the last ice age.