Nukes and ozone

[mindstalk]

A 'small' local war -- 50 Hiroshimas -- could damage the ozone layer in mid-latitudes -- where you and I and other rich people live -- for years.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080408/ap_on_sc/nuclear_ozone_3

Comments

[montyy0.livejournal.com]

man, way to wreck my plans for the weekend.

[mindstalk.livejournal.com]

Ahem. You need better plans!

[montyy0.livejournal.com]

like this guy (http://qntm.org/?destroy)?

[cleverthylacine]

Would it make global warming worse or better? (I understand that global warming exists, just not so much how it works. I keep thinking it has to do with greenhouse gases, but then people tell me it's ozone.)

[mindstalk.livejournal.com]

Um. Yes, greenhouse gases. AFAIK ozone's got nothing to do with it.

Soot might cool things off temporarily, by blocking sunlight. "nuclear winter", Pinatubo, Krakatoa, and all that.

Huh, Firefox's spellchecker knows about Pinatubo and Krakatoa, but not about "spellchecker".

[jordan179.livejournal.com]

Mostly, the climate would get a little cooler for a year, and there would be an increased cancer hazard from UV rays. This is a small to medium-sized nuclear war we're talking about; the environmental damage would be short-term and fairly minor.

A bigger war would, of course, be much worse.