Nuclear Explosions Puts Soot in the Atmosphere, Resulting in Worldwide Famines, Study Warns

Findings in a study linked worldwide famines to nuclear explosions.

Scientists explained that the soot from the detonation would be trapped in the earth's atmosphere and hinder agricultural processes.

In their paper, the scientists examined the possibility that widespread food shortages could result from soot released into the atmosphere as a result of nuclear bomb explosions.

They predicted that crop growth will be significantly impacted in almost every country if the volume of soot released into the atmosphere exceeds 5 Tg or about 11 billion pounds.

From Explosion to Winter

The paper estimates that the amount of soot that could enter the stratosphere in the event of a nuclear conflict between India and Pakistan could reach between 5 and 47Tg.

Even more devastating, a nuclear conflict between the US and Russia could produce up to 150Tg of soot, ushering in a nuclear winter.

According to the authors, a nuclear war would be a catastrophic event for worldwide food security due to decreased light, global cooling, and likely trade restrictions.

Furthermore, the authors noted that a nuclear war between Pakistan and India could result in the deaths of more than 2 billion people, and a war between the Russia and United States could result in the deaths of more than 5 billion people.

Depending on the strength of the bomb, the enormous amount of energy released when a nuclear weapon explodes vaporizes everything nearby.

It can get as hot as 180,000,000 degrees Fahrenheit right near the explosion's epicenter.

Massive volumes of soot and other aerosols would be swept away by the atmosphere all over the world, obstructing sunlight, due to these widespread fire incidents and destruction as well as the atmospheric disturbance brought on by the bomb's shockwaves.

Crop productivity declines as a result of declining sunlight levels because crops require sunlight to grow.

According to the authors, humans would fall 74% short of the number of calories needed globally in a 150 Tg scenario.

Men need 2,000 to 3,000 calories per day, while adult women need between 1,600 and 2,400.

According to a 2010 report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, cereals account for 51% of all food calories consumed globally, followed by vegetables, fruits, and other plant-based products (31%), and animal products like meat, dairy, and eggs (18%).

Death Tolls and Crop Failures

Deepak K. Ray predicted that a nuclear war would result in a global cooling of 55.6 degrees Fahrenheit in an analysis of the original paper.

According to Ray, the combined populations of Europe, the United States, the Russian Federation, allies, and many other countries would die in the worst-case scenario.

Historically, crop failure due to air pollution has been caused by large volcanic eruptions that release large amounts of sulphuric acid aerosols and ash into the atmosphere.

This was evident in Indonesia following the Tambora eruption in 1815, which brought about the 1986 "year without a summer."

On a larger scale, a 9-mile asteroid collision with the planet led to a global nuclear winter, which led to the extinction of the dinosaurs and 75% of all other species.

Ray insisted that a limited nuclear war between Pakistan and India will probably result from large volcanic eruptions such as Tambora.

The size of the asteroid that caused the mass extinction and the extinction of the dinosaurs is probably comparable to the scale of complete mutually assured destruction.

Read also: Survival 101: Here are 7 Animals That Can Survive a Nuclear War

Adaptation Measures

Still, the authors of the study did consider potential solutions to lessen the impact of a nuclear war on global calorie supplies.

They claimed that adaptation strategies like reducing food waste would have little effect on raising the number of calories available.

Their simulations revealed that while using crops typically grown for livestock feed as a food alternative for humans may be able to partially offset local food losses, it may not have a significant effect on the global supply of food.

In addition, they hypothesized that decreasing household food waste might help maintain lost calories in a small nuclear war.

However, a larger nuclear war is a different matter.

Despite their effects on the atmosphere, nuclear bombs also cause a significant number of deaths both directly and as a result of radiation poisoning from fallout exposure.

Because there are so many unknowns, it's difficult to say whether the subsequent decline in global population will lessen pressure on the food industry.

The kind of scenario being explored, according to Ray, is where the bombs fall in unpopulated areas, resulting in fewer deaths but causing famine as well as subsequent deaths as a result of the soot.

But in the future, the authors will need to conduct more accurate scenario analysis, Newsweek reported.