India-Pakistan nuclear war would cause ozone hole
WASHINGTON: Nuclear war between India and Pakistan would cause more than slaughter and destruction, it would knock a big hole in the ozone layer, affecting crops, animals and people worldwide, US researchers said on Monday.
Fires from burning cities would send 5 million metric tons of soot or more into the lowest part of Earth's atmosphere known as the troposphere, and heat from the sun would carry these blackened particles into the stratosphere, the team at the University of Colorado reported.
"The sunlight really heats it up and sends it up to the top of the stratosphere," said Michael Mills of the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, who chose India and Pakistan as one of several possible examples. Up there, the soot would absorb radiation from the sun and heat surrounding gases, causing chemical reactions that break down ozone.
Fires from burning cities would send 5 million metric tons of soot or more into the lowest part of Earth's atmosphere known as the troposphere, and heat from the sun would carry these blackened particles into the stratosphere, the team at the University of Colorado reported.
"The sunlight really heats it up and sends it up to the top of the stratosphere," said Michael Mills of the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, who chose India and Pakistan as one of several possible examples. Up there, the soot would absorb radiation from the sun and heat surrounding gases, causing chemical reactions that break down ozone.
posted by temporal at 4/08/2008
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