Two-dimensional simulations of possible mesoscale effects of nuclear war fires 2. Model results
The two-dimensional mesoscale meteorological model and the aerosol model described in the companion papaer by Giorgi (this issue) are used to investigate mesoscale effects induced by atmospheric injections of purely absorbing smoke from nuclear war fires. Simulations are carried out for different fire types (city center, suburban, and forest fires), aerosol loadings, particle properties, and atmospheric conditions. We analyze three effects which develop on spatial scales of 10--500 km and time scales of 1--2 days and can be important for assessments of environmental impacts of nuclear war: (1) smoke-induced formation of clouds and precipitation and efficiency of smoke removal; (2) smoke vertical transport; and (3) surface cooling induced by the smoke absorption. In convectively unstable and moist environments the low-level uplifting induced by the smoke heating can initiate convective precipitation. In the absence of substantial moisture sources from the fires, precipitation develops mostly at the edges of the smoke plumes and is associated with the inhomogeneities in the smoke distribution, since these allow low-level smoke heating. When the smoke is dispersed by the atmospheric winds and attains a more homogeneous distribution, most of the heating takes place at more stable higher altitudes, the smoke shielding stabilizes the lower troposhere and precipitation formation is hindered. Wet removal dominates dry removal processes and its efficiency depends on the properties and vertical distribution of the injected aerosol. In a wide variety of experiments, the fraction of the total injected smoke mass removed during 48 hour simulations varied from 3 to 20% for injections from suburban fires, from 10 to 20% for forest fires, and 1% for city center fires.
- Research Organization:
- National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado
- OSTI ID:
- 6391134
- Journal Information:
- J. Geophys. Res.; (United States), Vol. 94:D1
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
GENERAL PHYSICS
EARTH ATMOSPHERE
NUCLEAR EXPLOSIONS
AEROSOLS
ATMOSPHERIC CIRCULATION
ATMOSPHERIC PRECIPITATIONS
CLOUDS
FIRES
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
METEOROLOGY
SIMULATION
SMOKES
WARFARE
WIND
COLLOIDS
DISPERSIONS
EXPLOSIONS
RESIDUES
SOLS
640202* - Atmospheric Physics- Effects of Nuclear Detonations