Posted on 04/07/2008 2:21:06 PM PDT by blam
Limited nuclear war would decimate ozone layer
22:00 07 April 2008
NewScientist.com news service
Catherine Brahic
Apart from the human devastation, a small-scale nuclear war between India and Pakistan would destroy much of the ozone layer, leaving the DNA of humans and other organisms at risk of damage from the Sun's rays, say researchers.
Michael Mills of the University of Colorado at Boulder, US, and colleagues used computer models to study how 100 Hiroshima-sized bombs would affect the atmosphere.
They say that their scenario – in which each country launches 50 devices of 15 kilotons – is realistic, given the countries' nuclear arsenals.
"The figure of 100 Hiroshima-sized bombs compares pretty accurately to the approximately 110 warheads that both states reportedly possess between them," agrees Wyn Bowen, professor of non-proliferation and international security in the War Studies Group at King's College, UK.
Plumes of soot
Mills and colleagues found that a regional nuclear war in South Asia would deplete up to 40% of the ozone layer in the mid latitudes and up to 70% in the high northern latitudes.
"The models show this magnitude of ozone loss would persist for five years, and we would see substantial losses continuing for at least another five years," says Mills.
The effect is far greater than was calculated in the 1980s in a study that modelled the effect of global nuclear war. Mills says old models did not take into account the impact of columns of soot that would rise up to 80 kilometres into the atmosphere.
Up to 5 million metric tons of soot would be spewed out by fires on the ground, says the team. Once in the upper stratosphere, it would absorb energy from the sun, heating the surrounding gases and catalysing the breakdown
(Excerpt) Read more at environment.newscientist.com ...
It wouldn’t do much for the cities they are dropped on either ;)
But maybe not as much as an unlimited one. Seeing this, I know I am taking advantage of the Virgle Mars expedition. Lol.
Oh sorry, I am supposed to be scared to death aren't I, or the news media just isn't doing their job properly.
Or we could evolve to a more resilient species because of it.
Crapola...
Hardtack I in 1958 tested 35 devices in the Pacific, many of which were megaton range.
Anybody else remember the “Nuclear Winter” BS from a couple of decades ago?
So many armageddons, so little time.
That might involve the death of 95% of the world's population.
As a kid, I used to have a bandage box full of seashells that my uncle picked up from one of those islands before it was detonated. Wonder what ever happened to them?
Did you check your sock drawer?
That is where I would look.
; < )
Reality is, 100% of the current human population will die. Death is a fact of life.
After some of the really big shots like Mike and Bravo, they switched to barges for platforms. They were tearing up too much real-estate, and surface bursts on land compounded fallout problems.
Excuse me! There have been hundreds of above ground nuclear tests far more powerful than that. Here’s the list:
Summary of listed detonations
nation number of above ground detonations years total yield
United States 216 1945-1962 153.8 mt
U.S.S.R. 214 1949-1962 281.6 mt
United Kingdom 21 1952-1958 10.8 mt
France 46 1960-1974 11.4 mt
P.R.C. 23 1964-1980 21.5 mt
South Africa 1 1979 0.003 mt
And the ozone layer was still there.
This guy is full of shit.
Hey Bill, is it 10% as the headline says or 40% or 70% as claimed in the article?
The ONE really big error we made in nuclear weapons use is that we didn't use enough of 'em on the commies and the Slimes when they got uppity.The danger to the "ozone" is that we didn't use nukes.
This sounds like “Nuclear Winter” lite.
In the words of Dr. Michael Crichton, “This is not the way science is done, it is the way products are sold.”
http://michaelcrichton.com/speech-alienscauseglobalwarming.html
It was nonsense, of course, same as global (warming|cooling), but when did a story being utter rubbish stop the MSM from running with it?
I don’t want a nuke war because I want to meet the aliens who’ll give us technology if we don’t! :D
Bump #16 to read later.
Not to mention the AEC was really pissing Eastman Kodak off.
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