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Nuke exchange would shred ozone layer: study

  2. JanforGore
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A re­gion­al nu­clear ex­change could wipe out most of the Earth’s pro­tect­ive ozone lay­er, re­search­ers re­port. The lay­er is a part of the at­mos­phere that con­tains enough ozone to block most of the sun’s ul­tra­vi­o­let radia­t­ion, which burns the skin and can cause skin can­cer.

Mi­chael Mills of the Uni­ver­s­ity of Col­o­rado, Boul­der, and col­leagues con­clud­ed from sim­ula­t­ions that a con­flict in­volv­ing the ex­change of 100 Hiroshima-equivalent bombs would cause ur­ban fires whose smoke would dec­i­mate the ozone lay­er.

The fires would loft as much as five mil­lion met­ric tonnes of soot in­to the trop­o­sphere, the low­est at­mos­pher­ic lay­er, the re­search­ers ar­gued. So­lar heat­ing, they added, would then boost the soot in­to the strat­o­sphere, a high­er lay­er.

Up to about 60 km (40 miles) high the soot would ab­sorb so­lar radia­t­ion and heat the sur­round­ing gas­es, thus speed­ing up chem­i­cal re­ac­tions that break down ozone, the sci­en­tists said.

They used a mod­el that linked cli­mate to at­mos­pher­ic chem­is­try to con­duct 10-year sim­ula­t­ions. Their mod­el pre­dicts that in a nu­clear con­flict be­tween In­dia and Pa­ki­stan, at­mos­pher­ic cur­rents would likely spread soot around the globe, re­sult­ing in lo­cal at­mos­pher­ic warm­ing of up to 30-60 de­grees Cel­si­us.

Some ozone-destroying re­ac­tions would ac­cel­er­ate at the high­er tem­per­a­tures, the re­search­ers con­tin­ued. In both hemi­spheres, they ad­dded, the ozone from 20 de­grees north or south lat­i­tude to the poles would thin be­low the thresh­old de­fin­ing a cur­rently ex­ist­ing Ant­arc­tic ozone hole. The mod­el pre­dicts that the at­mos­phere would beg­in to re­cov­er in five to eight years.

The study is to ap­pear in this week’s early on­line edi­tion of the re­search jour­nal Pro­ceed­ings of the Na­tio­n­al Aca­de­my of Sci­en­ces.
~~~~~~~~~~~
However, humans won' t get the message. We will continue to warmonger and push for nuclear energy by telling people it is "safe."
JanforGore

18 responses // Nuke exchange would shred ozone layer: study

  • Man, i am completely and utterly ashamed to have lived in this generation. So what if i'm not the one building the nuke's and bombing people with them. I share the same lifetime with the idiots, and that is just horrible. People like the idiots we have now shouldn't be chosen to run the country. THEY WILL KILL US ALL. Thanks for the article.
    recommended by  JanforGore
    1bullet
  • The fact that 'NUKE EXCHANGE' is a definite possibility is surreal. I don't trust the current administration not to be so misguided and deluded to think they can control the outcome of using tactical nukes. They thought they could control the situation in Iraq after 'SHOCK AND AWE'. HOW'S THAT WORKING FOR EVERYONE?

    They are still in the lap of luxury, armchair warriors, complete with all the artillery they need and more being created every day. They don't seem to realize the damage their judgement has caused to date. Why should we trust their judgement in the future? Individuals who misled us into a war of aggression with Iraq have not been held accountable. They have not had the shame of admitting their mistakes under oath, in plain view of the world. How can we expect them to feel shame, they haven't been held accountable.

    Our leaders need to know they will be held accountable for their mistakes. They need to know there will be consequences for their actions.
    recommended by  JanforGore, Chique
    Conniepae
  • watch this comment being used here, here, here, here, here and here
    This is talking about the consequences after nuking on the ozone, and it assumes that there will still be people left to experience it.
    BleachedBlind
  • regardless of any war, environmental concerns, diseases or any other form of human suffering. it will be overpopulation in the long run which will lead to the greatest loss of life in the history of the world.

    this planet is too small and its people too short-sited to realize that they should stop having children for 10-20 years and let the population normalize
    Prodius
  • I got in a huge argument once about this once, and had to leave class because I said that the reason the ozone layer is all jacked up is because of all the nuclear testing that went on during the last century. hell last 50 years.

    the argument was about the development and fossil fuels pollution was the main cause, and basically thats all they blamed it on. So i argued (imagine that...right?) that although it might have added to it, I believe that all the nuclear testing, above ground and later underground was the culprit. If anyone knows about H-bomb testing, the original scientists were worried that the explosion would destroy the atmosphere. their reasoning was that the explosion was so damaging to the ozone layer that they thought that it would ignite it. That was the main reason for underground testing. in addition to fallout. but if they were worried about fallout, then they knew that one of the things about fallout is that it create an immediate change to the climate Fallout=nuclear winter.

    if global warning leads to ice age, then why wouldnt nuclear testing, which is no different than an actual bomb, just not over a city, lead to ice age all the same? the argument started because i said that it was the us governments desire to wanna kill people that led to the destruction of us all. (of course i meant it, but i also said it to piss people off....mission accomplished!!) the argument was so heated, that when no one could actually address my theory, i just left. got called into the office after hours the next week and told about making comments like that. i calmly said, can you answer it? does that not make sense to you? (ex military guy) so we argued again. and my last words were to him, its clearly obvious that you have no desire for fresh or unorthodox thought, nor are you capable of it, so with that being said, i would like to request dropping your class while passing, since i was. he declined and dropped me while failing. didnt take long to get it reversed once i threatened to sue their asses!

    but i still believe that that is why.
    okinawanmajik
  • yes, well, I try to be optimistic too but we are talking about the human species. We don't exactly have a good track record when it comes to peace.
    JanforGore
  • I think I am going to go with "who cares" as a response. Why... well due to the fact that after an exchange of that magnitude, there would be practically no one left.
    UWAZell
  • WE MUST TRY BUSH AND CHENEY FOR WAR CRIMES WHEN THEY LEAVE OFFICE !!!!! AND CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY
    stephenthomson
  • Conniepae, I totally agree, I couldn't have said it better myself. These people haven't been shamed for the wrong they've done and the disorder they've caused. I wish people would come out of their ignorant state of mind and see how the world truly is. These politicians aren't saints, and they do make bad decisions. They really aren't helping. I just hope sometime soon people realize that so we can all come together and reverse this damage they have caused.
    1bullet
  • It's not like they'd care. The US Government would just deny it like every other big secret they hide, blame it on global warming or something. And if it did get out they would just tout is as a short term effect.

    That is, if any of us survive. And the ones that do might be too scared to realize the people who telling them everything is okay love lying to them everytime they open thier mouths.
    lifestudentno83
  • Oh but UWAZell, Congress and the executive branch would be all safe in their bunkers while were out here getting the full effect. Nice representative government we have huh? They have the bunkers and we have to fend for ourselves.
    JanforGore
  • Actually, I think that okinawanmajik's theory about current global warming is fully plausible, after all, in the 70s (near the hight of the Cold War, when, I believe, they were still doing plenty of testing) there was a big hype about how the next ice age was about to occur, because world temperatures were dropping (possible symptom of nuclear fallout??), but now the temperature's are on the rise, it's possible that they're connected.

    Still, I can't help but wonder if, in 20 years time, they're gonna turn around (after getting us to Carbon Neutral) and tell us that it's actually natural climate transition.
    Yhtomit
  • the world is fragile. contrary to what people think i believe.

    nuclear testing will lead to fallout symptoms whatever they may be. added greenhouse gasses, and cutting down of gas recycling vessels like trees and rainforests. increased water pollution is destroying single celled orgs in the ocean that also help repair nature....algae and such.

    if we only had the greenhouse gasses, i think it would have been ok. because some of histories largests volcanic eruptions did more in the areas of producing greenhouse gasses and dust. but i think the nuclear testing blew huge chunks and huge chunks or our atmosphere away. then with the added BS we have been doing, is causing the earths "white blood cells" to work overtime to right its self.

    like aids, the thing that ultimately kills the person is the lack of protection from the most mundane ailments. feline flu or something stupid. we are destroying so much, so quick....after the original catalyst of nuclear testing, that we will end up dying from sun light poisoning, or a disease that has been suppressed because of the Bar pressure kept it dormant or the current oxygen mixture suppressed it..or something we dont even know or cant even contemplate now because its something we arent even looking for.

    what ultimately kills us, probably wont be from something we know, but from something we dont, or ever will. we will just die.
    okinawanmajik
  • I just dont understand. This is my world?
    stephenthomson
  • http://www.ananuclear.org/Issues/NuclearWeaponsComplex2...
    The Dept. of Energy (DOE) wants to build a new generation of nuclear weapons, which violates the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The 'Bombplex Transformation' is described at this site. Deadline for submitting testimony was April 10, 2008 but you can still educate yourself.
    futuregen
  • I saw an old movie with Matthew Broderick on tv about a month ago. In it, he hacks into the government's computer mainframe, which ironically is a machine that calculates the possible outcomes to any nuclear attack possible. The computer starts to broadcast these possible scenarios on the government's mega-screens and they freak out. They find out the machine is on the fritz and that this kid is responsible for it. In order to save the world the kid has to teach the machine to learn (which it can ironically do) that any nuclear war would destroy the entire earth and that no one would survive.

    The moral of the story is that nuclear warfare doesn't work for anyone. If we nuke some country, the innocent people in the surrounding areas, for hundreds and thousands of miles in all directions, would experience some nuclear dustfall (I lack the proper terminology for this subject) and more innocent people would die slow, terrible deaths over a long period of time. Not to mention destroy our ozone!
    guntown_kid82
  • Well first of all, somebody will survive but what about the rest of us. If these bombs are sold to the wrong country or countries, which most of the world now harvards these weapons, who will shoot first and who will counter shoot. Hell, who will get chest mate.

    Just thinking. How will those survive will live and would the beans that we house for such occasion be any good. Will the insects take over the world and seek us for their meals and would they become so smart that they can talk or organized war zones.

    Its just something to think about. Would the blast throw the Earth out of its orbit and send other planets into the sun which over powers the sun and it explodes.

    Okay, I am taking it to a story out of Sci-Fi.
    cheche_201

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