Rapidly expanding nuclear arsenals in Pakistan and India portend regional and global catastrophe.


Journal

Science advances
ISSN: 2375-2548
Titre abrégé: Sci Adv
Pays: United States
ID NLM: 101653440

Informations de publication

Date de publication:
10 2019
Historique:
received: 27 06 2019
accepted: 09 09 2019
entrez: 17 10 2019
pubmed: 17 10 2019
medline: 17 10 2019
Statut: epublish

Résumé

Pakistan and India may have 400 to 500 nuclear weapons by 2025 with yields from tested 12- to 45-kt values to a few hundred kilotons. If India uses 100 strategic weapons to attack urban centers and Pakistan uses 150, fatalities could reach 50 to 125 million people, and nuclear-ignited fires could release 16 to 36 Tg of black carbon in smoke, depending on yield. The smoke will rise into the upper troposphere, be self-lofted into the stratosphere, and spread globally within weeks. Surface sunlight will decline by 20 to 35%, cooling the global surface by 2° to 5°C and reducing precipitation by 15 to 30%, with larger regional impacts. Recovery takes more than 10 years. Net primary productivity declines 15 to 30% on land and 5 to 15% in oceans threatening mass starvation and additional worldwide collateral fatalities.

Identifiants

pubmed: 31616796
doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aay5478
pii: aay5478
pmc: PMC6774726
doi:

Types de publication

Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Langues

eng

Sous-ensembles de citation

IM

Pagination

eaay5478

Informations de copyright

Copyright © 2019 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License 4.0 (CC BY-NC).

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Auteurs

Owen B Toon (OB)

Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80303, USA.

Charles G Bardeen (CG)

Atmospheric Chemistry Observations and Modeling Laboratory, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO 80307, USA.

Alan Robock (A)

Department of Environmental Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA.

Lili Xia (L)

Department of Environmental Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA.

Hans Kristensen (H)

Federation of American Scientists, 1112 16th St., N.W. Suite 400, Washington, DC 20036, USA.

Matthew McKinzie (M)

Natural Resources Defense Council, 40 West 20th St., 11th Floor, New York, NY 10011, USA.

R J Peterson (RJ)

Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0390, USA.

Cheryl S Harrison (CS)

School of Earth, Environmental, and Marine Sciences, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Port Isabel, TX 78597, USA.
Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0450, USA.

Nicole S Lovenduski (NS)

Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0450, USA.

Richard P Turco (RP)

Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.

Classifications MeSH