The Collaborative International Dictionary
nuclear winter \nuclear winter\ n. a hypothetical lowering of global temperature postulated as the aftermath of a full nuclear war. The mechanism of such an effect depends primarily on the injection into the atmosphere of small solid particles, as soot from burning forests, which reflect sunlight and cause a reduction in solar energy retained by the earth.
Wiktionary
n. A predicted drop in global temperature following a nuclear war due to dust in the upper atmosphere reducing sunlight reaching the ground.
WordNet
n. a long period of darkness and extreme cold that scientists predict would follow a full-scale nuclear war; a layer of dust and smoke in the atmosphere would cover the earth and block the rays of the sun; most living organisms would perish
Wikipedia
Nuclear winter (also known as atomic winter) is a hypothesized global climatic effect most often considered a potential threat following a countervalue (or city-targeted), nuclear war, as a result of city and natural wildfire firestorms. It is most frequently suggested to manifest as a result of the combined combustion pollution from the burning of at least 100 city sized areas at firestorm-intensity. The term was specifically coined to refer to computer model results where this smoke remained for years, or even decades, and caused massive planet-wide temperature drops (" winters") for as long as it remained.
The climate models in the public domain suggest that the ignition of 100 firestorms, comparable in intensity to that observed in Hiroshima in 1945, would produce a "small" nuclear winter. The burning of these firestorms would result in the injection of soot (specifically black carbon) into the Earth's stratosphere, producing an anti-greenhouse effect that lowers the Earth's surface temperature. The models conclude that the cumulative products of 100 of these firestorms would unmistakably cool the global climate by approximately 1 °C (1.8 °F), largely eliminating the magnitude of anthropogenic global warming for two to three years. The authors speculate, but do not model, that this would have global agricultural losses as a consequence.
A much larger number of firestorms, however, were the initial focus of the computer modelers that coined the term in the 1980s. These were speculated to be a result of any countervalue city- airburst nuclear weapon during an American- Soviet total war. These larger firestorms were believed to cause nuclear winter conditions for as long as a decade, with summer cooling by about 20 °C (36 °F) in core agricultural regions of the US, Europe, and China, and by as much as 35 °C (63 °F) in Russia. This cooling was produced due to a 99% reduction in the natural solar radiation reaching the surface of the planet in the first few years, gradually clearing over several decades.
As nuclear devices need not be involved in the ignition of a firestorm, the term is a common misnomer. This is due to, in greatest part, the vast majority of published papers stating, without qualitative justification, that nuclear explosions are the cause of the modeled firestorm effects. The only phenomenon that is scrutinized and computer modeled in the nuclear winter papers is the climate forcing agent of firestorm-soot, a product which can be ignited and formed by a myriad of other, more common, means.
On the fundamental level, it is known that firestorms can inject soot smoke/ aerosols into the stratosphere, as each natural occurrence of a wildfire firestorm has been found to "surprisingly frequently" produce minor "nuclear winter" effects, with short-lived, almost immeasurable drops in surface temperatures, confined to the global hemisphere that they burned in. This is somewhat analogous to the frequent volcanic eruptions that inject sulfates into the stratosphere and thereby produce minor, even negligible, volcanic winter effects.
A suite of satellite and aircraft-based firestorm-soot-monitoring instruments are at the forefront of attempts to accurately determine the lifespan, quantity, injection height, and optical properties of this smoke. Information regarding all of these properties is necessary to truly ascertain the length and depth of the cooling effect of firestorms, independent of the nuclear winter computer model projections.
Presently, from satellite tracking data, stratospheric smoke aerosols are removed in a time span under approximately two months. The existence of any hint of a tipping point into a new stratospheric condition where the aerosols would not be removed within this time frame remains to be determined.
Nuclear Winter is the first full-length album by The Lonely Forest. It was released on August 4, 2007. The album is a concept album about the end of the world and the escape from destruction through space travel. It was written by The Lonely Forest with the lyrics and story by John Van Deusen. It was produced by Sam Winston and The Lonely Forest. The piano used in this recording was a 1901 Bechstein.
Nuclear winter is a hypothetical climatic effect of nuclear war.
It may also refer to:
- Nuclear Winter (The Lonely Forest album), 2007
- Nuclear Winter Volume 1 (2009) or Nuclear Winter Volume 2: Death Panel (2011), mixtape albums by Sole
- Nuclear Wintour, nickname for magazine editor Anna Wintour
Usage examples of "nuclear winter".
We will be buried here, safe while the firestorms rage and the nuclear winter closes its grip.
At least the nuclear winter freed our race from that sort of territoriality.
Winter is always depressing but nuclear winter is somehow especially grim.
Over the subsequent twelve years, this line of inquiry led from dust storms on Mars to volcanic aerosols on Earth to the possible extinction of the dinosaurs by impact dust to nuclear winter.
Studies of volcanic effects on the climate were on the investigative path that eventually led to the discovery of nuclear winter.
As with nuclear winter, bad science is used to promote what most people would consider good policy.
The temporary cessation of photosynthesis will obliterate thousands of species of plants and animals on land and in the sea, as the Sun's eventual return is followed by years of nuclear winter.
We've had strong disagreements, especially on Star Wars, nuclear winter and asteroid defence.
The starting pistol for a nuclear holocaust, and a nuclear winter to follow.
One or more eruptions the equal of Krakatau in 1883 or Tambora in 1815 might inject enough ash and smoke into the atmosphere to rival the nuclear winter predicted by many scientists in the 1980s to follow a nuclear war.
Put that off for another day - when the despot has a nuclear weapon and liberals can scream about nuclear winter while letting Saddam run wild throughout the Middle East.