Nuclear war could trigger Little Ice Age, experts say

The scientific publication AGU Advances published a forecast by scientists from Louisiana State University, who considered the future of the Earth in the event that an unstable international situation leads to a nuclear war, reports the Daily Mail. In their opinion, a nuclear conflict between Russia and the United States will most likely lead to the fact that a "little ice age" will be established on Earth for thousands of years. Soot and smoke from the fire, rising into the upper atmosphere, will cover the Sun and lead to crop failures around the world. Average global temperatures in the first month after the explosion will drop to levels below those of the last ice age, when woolly mammoths died out. The temperature of the ocean water will drop just as quickly and will not return to its previous levels even after it clears up.

As the planet cools, the sea ice will expand, so that many major ports, including Beijing, Copenhagen and St. Petersburg, will be blocked. Glaciation will reach cities located in regions with a temperate climate, because of which navigation throughout the Northern Hemisphere will be very difficult. Ports not prepared for sea ice, such as Shanghai, will no longer accept food and other cargo. Even if the conflict unfolds between two countries, it will affect the entire planet, entangled in global supply chains.

A drop in light and sea temperature, especially from the Arctic to the North Atlantic and the North Pacific, will lead to the death of algae. Following this primary source of the marine food web, the entire ecosystem will suffer. Famine will arise in the ocean, fishing will become impossible for a long time. Land usually recovers faster. The oceans will take hundreds of years to recover at depth, and changes in Arctic sea ice will last for thousands of years, resulting in a "little nuclear ice age".