Castle Bravo Test (1954): Most powerful nuclear device detonated by the US was over 1,000 times more powerful than Little Boy, dropped on Hiroshima.
Test out possible scenarios of a nuclear war here.
For an example of a possible EAS broadcast, click here.
Test out possible scenarios of a nuclear war here.
For an example of a possible EAS broadcast, click here.
Right after a blast:
In an article from Science, Michael Dillon tried to come up with formula for those far enough away to survive blast but close enough for fallout – “the math boiled down to a single critical number: the ratio of the time you spend hunkering down in your first shelter to the time you spend moving to the high-quality shelter.”
- Get inside brick or concrete building
- Remove contaminated clothing and clean skin (and pets/fur)
- Get to middle of building, away from areas there may be leakage to outside.
- Stay inside at least 24 hours with an emergency supply kit containing bottled water, sealed food, medicine, crank or battery radio, flashlight, and battery.
- Get inside, but if you are unable, lie face down to protect skin behind anything that may protect. MUST do before fallout arrives.
- You may eat or drink packaged items that are inside but NOT outside.
- Flashes can cause blindness.
- Blast wave can cause death, injury, structural damage.
- Radiation can cause cellular damage.
- Fire/Heat can cause structural damage and burns.
- Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) can disrupt electronics.
- Fallout can cause sickness to those outside.
In an article from Science, Michael Dillon tried to come up with formula for those far enough away to survive blast but close enough for fallout – “the math boiled down to a single critical number: the ratio of the time you spend hunkering down in your first shelter to the time you spend moving to the high-quality shelter.”
Nuclear winter:
Once a bomb decimates a city, the burning remnants of the infrastructure and buildings would likely be carried to the upper troposphere/lower stratosphere via pyrocumulonimbus clouds, which form during firestorms. While there, it would block out the sun’s light which would drop global temperatures (sort of like a reverse greenhouse effect) from between 12 – 20 degrees Celsius and could reduce global precipitation by 45% thus leading to a severe food shortage for those who survive the initial blast. The length of time the debris would remain in the air would depend on variant natural removal processes. Also, a nuclear war – even a small exchange between Pakistan and India – could lead to a worldwide ozone hole.
In a 1990 paper, “"Climate and Smoke: An Appraisal of Nuclear Winter", the atmospheric effects were more thoroughly investigated. In the first three months, it is expected that 10 – 25% of the soot is removed by rain while the rest is dissipated over the globe, temperatures drop 10 to 22 degrees Celsius in the summers, rain decreases 75% in mid-latitudes, and light levels drop in high smoke areas. In the following 1 to 3 years, 25 to 40% of the smoke is stabilized in the atmosphere, temperatures are still below normal, ocean surface temperature is between 2 and 6 degrees, and ozone depletion would be about 50% which would lead to a 200% increase in surface UV radiation.
While the general idea of a nuclear winter is the result of a nuclear war, any amount of fires could lead to it, such as oil fires. As a result of Iraq’s 1991 invasion of Kuwait and the subsequent smoke ignition of 600 oil wells – which burned for eight months – did absorb 75 to 80% of the sun’s radiation at its peak, but effects were not as catastrophic as expected. However, single plumes do not have as much of an effect as a large metropolis on fire. Of course, there has been criticism about how much soot would really reach the atmosphere, how long it would stay, and how decimated modern cities would be, but there would definitely be environmental problems in the event of a nuclear war. Some existing similar climatic examples are the result of super-volcano eruptions, like the Year Without Summer in 1816 in which temperatures dropped and crops failed due to the 1815 eruption of Mt Tambora, and crater impacts.
Once a bomb decimates a city, the burning remnants of the infrastructure and buildings would likely be carried to the upper troposphere/lower stratosphere via pyrocumulonimbus clouds, which form during firestorms. While there, it would block out the sun’s light which would drop global temperatures (sort of like a reverse greenhouse effect) from between 12 – 20 degrees Celsius and could reduce global precipitation by 45% thus leading to a severe food shortage for those who survive the initial blast. The length of time the debris would remain in the air would depend on variant natural removal processes. Also, a nuclear war – even a small exchange between Pakistan and India – could lead to a worldwide ozone hole.
In a 1990 paper, “"Climate and Smoke: An Appraisal of Nuclear Winter", the atmospheric effects were more thoroughly investigated. In the first three months, it is expected that 10 – 25% of the soot is removed by rain while the rest is dissipated over the globe, temperatures drop 10 to 22 degrees Celsius in the summers, rain decreases 75% in mid-latitudes, and light levels drop in high smoke areas. In the following 1 to 3 years, 25 to 40% of the smoke is stabilized in the atmosphere, temperatures are still below normal, ocean surface temperature is between 2 and 6 degrees, and ozone depletion would be about 50% which would lead to a 200% increase in surface UV radiation.
While the general idea of a nuclear winter is the result of a nuclear war, any amount of fires could lead to it, such as oil fires. As a result of Iraq’s 1991 invasion of Kuwait and the subsequent smoke ignition of 600 oil wells – which burned for eight months – did absorb 75 to 80% of the sun’s radiation at its peak, but effects were not as catastrophic as expected. However, single plumes do not have as much of an effect as a large metropolis on fire. Of course, there has been criticism about how much soot would really reach the atmosphere, how long it would stay, and how decimated modern cities would be, but there would definitely be environmental problems in the event of a nuclear war. Some existing similar climatic examples are the result of super-volcano eruptions, like the Year Without Summer in 1816 in which temperatures dropped and crops failed due to the 1815 eruption of Mt Tambora, and crater impacts.
Electronics:
If an EMP-emitting nuclear weapon were detonated 250 to 300 miles up over the middle of the US it would disable the electronics in the entire country and thus damage hospitals, food storage, water treatment facilities, and all forms of communication and may lead to loss of power for months or years. In the event of a world-wide catastrophe, outside help would be impossible to find and there is no telling how long the grid would be off. When a bomb is detonated at a high altitude, for the first few tens of a nanosecond, a tenth of a percent of the yield is released as gamma rays which impact with air molecules creating positive ions and Compton electrons which hit Earth’s magnetic field lines, which then generate electromagnetic emissions. For example, the 1962 Starfish Prime test (pictured above) damaged electronics in Honolulu and New Zealand. In addition, it produced an artificial radiation belt in space which destroyed three satellites and damaged three. As defined by the International Electrotechnical Commission, the three components of nuclear EMP are E1, E2, and E3. E1 is a short but strong electromagnetic field that causes electrical breakdown voltages to be exceeded that destroys equipment as it bypasses surge protectors. E2 is caused by scattered gamma rays and inelastic neutron gammas that lasts from 1 microsecond to 1 second and acts like lightning – since it follows E1, however, it is more damaging. E3 is a slow pulse that can last tens to hundreds of seconds and acts like a geomagnetic storm caused by solar flares. When this happens, if the geomagnetically induced currents are large enough and happen enough it can make the equipment in which it runs through susceptible to damage, as the GIC acts as a quasi-direct current.
If an EMP-emitting nuclear weapon were detonated 250 to 300 miles up over the middle of the US it would disable the electronics in the entire country and thus damage hospitals, food storage, water treatment facilities, and all forms of communication and may lead to loss of power for months or years. In the event of a world-wide catastrophe, outside help would be impossible to find and there is no telling how long the grid would be off. When a bomb is detonated at a high altitude, for the first few tens of a nanosecond, a tenth of a percent of the yield is released as gamma rays which impact with air molecules creating positive ions and Compton electrons which hit Earth’s magnetic field lines, which then generate electromagnetic emissions. For example, the 1962 Starfish Prime test (pictured above) damaged electronics in Honolulu and New Zealand. In addition, it produced an artificial radiation belt in space which destroyed three satellites and damaged three. As defined by the International Electrotechnical Commission, the three components of nuclear EMP are E1, E2, and E3. E1 is a short but strong electromagnetic field that causes electrical breakdown voltages to be exceeded that destroys equipment as it bypasses surge protectors. E2 is caused by scattered gamma rays and inelastic neutron gammas that lasts from 1 microsecond to 1 second and acts like lightning – since it follows E1, however, it is more damaging. E3 is a slow pulse that can last tens to hundreds of seconds and acts like a geomagnetic storm caused by solar flares. When this happens, if the geomagnetically induced currents are large enough and happen enough it can make the equipment in which it runs through susceptible to damage, as the GIC acts as a quasi-direct current.