Nuclear Winter: The Continuing Debate.

Abstract

This essay examines the debate over the climatic consequences of global nuclear war as related in the so-called Nuclear Winter hypothesis. the review examines the major components of the theory and traces development of the scientific knowledge leading to a second phase of the controversy two years after the first hypothesis. The conclusions of the essay are that the original nuclear winter findings have been altered by later scientific study and therefore the political conclusions drawn by Carl Sagan in 1983 can no longer be supported by theory or facts. Continued use of the Crutzen-Birks (Ambio, 1982) and TTAPS (Science, December 1983) studies worst case evidence from NCAR (Foreign Affairs, Summer 86) represents selective science. Arguing for strategic policy changes based on nuclear winter risks constitutes anti nuclear rhetoric and not scientific reasoning.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 23, 1987
Accession Number
ADA182785

Entities

People

  • Anthony V. Nida

Organizations

  • United States Army War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Climate Change
  • Department Of Defense
  • Explosions
  • Governments
  • Height Of Burst
  • National Security
  • New York
  • North America
  • Nuclear Weapons
  • Periodicals
  • Public Policy
  • Simulations
  • Strategic Defense Initiative
  • Three Dimensional
  • United States
  • Ussr
  • War Colleges

Readers

  • Nuclear Non-Proliferation and International Security
  • Strategic Security Studies
  • Theoretical Analysis.