Computers Show How the Earth Would Fare After a Nuclear War
There are countless movies, TV shows, books and more, about the zombie apocalypse. That's because it would never happen. The reality of what would happen after something catastrophic is way too grim for fiction. That's the basis of a new study, which used computer programs to simulate the aftermath of a nuclear war. As you might guess, it would not be pretty.
To create the programs, a team of atmospheric and environmental scientists studied past reports on nuclear wars, and fed their results into the computers. One of the inspirations for the report was the Cold War, which almost brought forth a nuclear war between America and the Soviet Union. Luckily for all of us, everyone freaked out and the war was averted.
"Leaders in the United States and the Soviet Union became aware of the global environmental damage of nuclear war and subsequently negotiated treaties that have significantly reduced their nuclear stockpiles from their peak near 65,000 in 1986 to less than 20,000, a decline that continues with further negotiations in recent years," explained the research team in their report. "Nevertheless, significant numbers of weapons remain, and the number of nuclear-armed states continues to increase." Likewise, the purpose of this study was to hopefully encourage countries to destroy their existing weapons for good.
For their purposes, the team chose to create a "limited" war, meaning 100 nuclear warheads would be detonated. Doesn't sound so small to us, but given that the computers had to crunch a ton of data, we understand. Plus, the computers pitted India against Pakistan, two countries that (as of now, at least) have a small arsenal of weapons. We imagine that using the US and another super power would produce much harsher results.
Not that the simulated war was something to scoff at. The first thing that would happen? A sudden depletion of our beloved ozone layer. In the years following the war, the ozone would shrink by up to 25 percent. A thinner ozone layer means stronger radiation rays from the sun, which means skin cancer rates would skyrocket. The rays would also severely dry up the Earth's soil and cause worldwide food shortages. Third world countries would especially be hard hit, as they already struggle to maintain their populations. The war would also black out the sun with thick smoke for at least the first few months afterwards. That drastic change would drop temperatures across the globe.
Essentially, if you think the weather can be extreme now, it's nothing compared to after a nuclear war. "The combination of years of killing frosts, reductions in needed precipitation, and prolonged enhancement of UV radiation, in addition to impacts on fisheries because of temperature and salinity changes, could exert significant pressures on food supplies across many regions of the globe," explained the experts. In other words, let's all stick to the zombies. It's much more fun.
[Image via Flickr - Kate Haskell]
