publishedJuly 21, 2022 at 9:10 p.m
New ice age, hungerStudy shows what nuclear war could trigger today
Russia has threatened to use nuclear weapons since the start of the Ukraine war. A team of researchers from the USA has now painted scenarios of what the actual consequences of a nuclear explosion would be – they are frightening.
It was only on July 21, 2022 that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko warned of a “nuclear war” in view of the war in Eastern Europe. Lukashenko called on the West, Ukraine and Russia to end the conflict in order to avert an impending nuclear escalation.
imago images/SergeyNivens
An explosion ejects smoke and soot into the upper atmosphere, blocking the sun’s rays. This would lead to a global temperature drop of 7.2 °C and ultimately to crop failures.
imago images/ZUMA Wire
Since the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the threat of nuclear war has been at its highest level since the Cold War. A team of scientists from different US universities has now created computer simulations with climate models – what would happen if atomic bombs were to go off in today’s world is simply terrible.
one in the Study published in the AGU Advances journal describes the consequences of a nuclear war – from a regional conflict to a nuclear exchange between Russia and the USA, in which around 4,400 100-kiloton nuclear weapons would be used against metropolises and industrial areas on the other side. 300 billion pounds of smoke and black carbon would then be expelled into the upper atmosphere, blocking the sun’s rays. Within a month, this would lead to a global temperature drop of 7.2 °C and ultimately to crop failures. Millions or even billions of people could starve to death.
If the algae die, the oceans die out
The oceans could suffer even more because the effects of a nuclear conflict could last for decades, if not centuries. The planet would then plunge into a “small, nuclear ice age”: sea temperatures would drop drastically, especially in the northern oceans. Important ports such as Beijing, Copenhagen and St. Petersburg would freeze over, which would weigh heavily on world trade.
The formation of thick layers of ice and the lack of sunlight would also be disastrous for marine life, as there would be a mass die-off of seaweed. Since algae make up a large part of the marine food web, all the organisms and animals that are above them in the food chain would also die.
No matter who bombs whom, the consequences are global
The devastating effects would be felt worldwide – regardless of where and by whom the atomic bombs were detonated, explains Cheryl Harrison, a researcher at Louisiana State University and lead author of the study, via Twitter. “Once the smoke rises to the upper atmosphere, it spreads globally and affects everyone,” Harrison said.
There are currently around 13,000 nuclear weapons in the world, spread across nine countries. The overwhelming majority of the warheads are in the hands of the US and Russia, while just over 1,000 are held by France, China, the UK, Pakistan, India, Israel and North Korea.
The results of the simulations are unequivocal: “We must do everything we can to avoid nuclear war. The probability that the effects will be catastrophic for everyone is too great,” warns Cheryl Harrison at the end.