Commentary on “Atmospheric ionization by high‐fluence, hard‐spectrum solar proton events and their probable appearance in the ice core archive” by A.L. Melott et al. and “Nitrate ion spikes in ice cores not suitable as proxies for solar proton events” by K.A. Duderstadt et al

Key Points Comment on Duderstadt et al. and Melott et al. Both come to different conclusions, though they agree in key points The main reason for the disagreement seems to be different assumptions made