ABSTRACT
Last month was the fifth anniversary of the publication of the results from the first global model which simulated the effects of a nuclear war on the earth’s climate. The model suggested that the huge volume of smoke injected into the atmosphere by the blasts, and more importantly by the subsequent surface fires, would reduce surface temperatures by up to 20°C over continental areas for prolonged periods. Lesser cooling effects would spread into the southern hemisphere. This catastrophic by-product of a nuclear war was termed ‘nuclear winter’.
