After the end of the Cold War, talk of a "nuclear winter" gradually faded away. However, nuclear weapons have not gone anywhere, and therefore climatologists decided to simulate a scenario of what our planet will turn into after a massive atomic bombing.
Rutgers University climate scientist Alan Robock, together with his colleagues, presented to the public a new study in which he detailed a hypothetical scenario for changes in a planet that went through a nuclear Apocalypse. The picture comes out disappointing. According to his calculations, if today a world war suddenly flared up and Russia and the United States were to fire all their nuclear warheads at once, then a real nuclear winter would follow the fiery tornado - a shocking drop in global temperature, decrease in precipitation and, as a result, a sharp decrease in the amount food all over the world.
In this scenario, nuclear particles will circulate between the hemispheres with wind and water for two weeks. After that, global temperatures will drop by about 9 ° C - this will happen in about 12 months. Perhaps in the future, the temperature will drop another degree and a half. But we are only talking about average values, do not forget. In local areas (for example, in Europe and North America) even in summer it will be about 20 degrees colder than now.
But this is far from the main problem of humanity. He will need to worry about hunger.
Not so much cooling as aerosol suspension in the atmosphere will cause global climate changes. It will block much of the sunlight and cause an average of 30% reduction in precipitation during the first months and 47-58% thereafter. Without water, in conditions of a sharp cold snap, in just a few seasons, the rich fauna of many regions can completely freeze out, not having time to adapt to new conditions.
By the way, this was also discussed by the scientist Richard Turco, who coined the term "nuclear winter". He drew attention to one important factor: after an all-out bombing, real clouds of debris will be carried away into the atmosphere. At one time, it was Turco's team that proved how smoke entering the upper troposphere as a result of urban fires can affect the climate over a vast territory. Any particles reaching the stratosphere can be scattered around the world, which can lead to even more catastrophic climate changes.
How long will this nightmare last? It all depends on the scale of the bombing, the location of the attacks and a number of other factors. Based on conventional war strategies, it can be assumed that cities will suffer much more than the rural population, and industry, along with transport, will be almost paralyzed. After the temperature reaches the lowest limit, it will gradually recover over 5-7 years. The dispersion of aerosol suspension will take about 20 more years. However, the consequences of a nuclear war will take much longer for mankind to clean up - after all, soil and water around the world will be poisoned by radioactive dust, and the mass extinction of plants will lead to a serious decline in the entire biosystem of the planet.
Vasily Makarov
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