Climatic effects of nuclear war

Journal Article · Tue Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1985 · BioScience; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2307/1309964· OSTI ID:5696735

Covey, C

Global climatic consequences of a nuclear war have, until recently, been assumed to be insignificant compared with the obviously devastating direct effects from blast, heat, and short-term fallout. But a number of investigations carried out over the past few years indicate that climatic impact could actually be severe enough to threaten the global ecosystem significantly, including regions that may not have been directly involved in the war. This change in perception comes as researchers realize that the fires ignited by nuclear explosions would generate so much smoke that, even spread over a large portion of Earth's surface, densities could be high enough to block most of the sunlight normally reaching the ground. As a result, temperatures could decrease below freezing in a nuclear winter lasting weeks to months. Smoke from fires is what would make nuclear winter so severe. Of necessity, theoretical models are relied upon to estimate the climatic impact of nuclear war. The models incorporate many uncertain assumptions, particularly regarding the small-scale details of smoke production by fires.

• Research Organization: Univ. of Miami, FL
• OSTI ID: 5696735
• Journal Information: BioScience; (United States), Journal Name: BioScience; (United States) Vol. 35:9; ISSN BISNA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

500300* -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Radioactive Materials Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AEROSOLS
CLIMATES
COLLOIDS
DISPERSIONS
DUSTS
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
EXPLOSIONS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
NUCLEAR EXPLOSIONS
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
RESIDUES
SMOKES
SOLS
TEMPERATURE EFFECTS
WEAPONS
WIND