nuclear winter
Post-war global freeze
Nuclear winter is a hypothetical climate catastrophe following large-scale nuclear war.
The theory holds that massive fires from nuclear explosions would send soot into the upper atmosphere, blocking sunlight and dropping global temperatures for months or years—potentially causing crop failures and mass starvation even in regions untouched by the blasts themselves.
Scientists in the 1980s warned that nuclear winter could make nuclear war unwinnable for either side.
When fields yield nothing
- starvationExtreme nutritional deprivation
- malnutritionDisease from dietary inadequacy
- harvest failureWhen planted fields produce nothing
- food crisisSevere shortage of sustenance
rationing · grain shortage · undernourishment · famine relief
Era of massive glaciation
- global coolingTheorized planetary temperature decrease
- temperature dropDecrease in warmth
- ozone depletionProtective atmospheric layer destruction
- albedoSurface reflection coefficient
climate modeling · paleoclimate · glaciation · permafrost · subzero · polar · climatology · thermohaline
Large-scale species elimination
- ecosystem collapseTotal breakdown of environmental systems
- biodiversity lossReduction in species variety
- apocalypseTotal civilizational collapse
- doomsdayProphesied world's end
Extremely cold
- frostThin ice coating
- iceWater's solid form
- snowFrozen crystalline precipitation
- blizzardViolent prolonged snowstorm
hypothermia · frostbite · arctic · subzero · glacier · chill · shiver · sleet
Energy propagation through space
- contaminationIntroduction of impurities
- radioactive decayUnstable atoms releasing energy
- isotopesAtomic number twins
- cesiumAlkali metal, number fifty-five
strontium · iodine-131 · plutonium · gamma rays · Geiger counter · half-life · decontamination · hazmat
crop failure
When fields yield nothing
- starvationExtreme nutritional deprivation
- malnutritionDisease from dietary inadequacy
- harvest failureWhen planted fields produce nothing
food crisis · rationing · grain shortage · undernourishment · famine relief
ice age
Era of massive glaciation
- global coolingTheorized planetary temperature decrease
- temperature dropDecrease in warmth
- ozone depletionProtective atmospheric layer destruction
albedo · climate modeling · paleoclimate · glaciation · permafrost · subzero · polar · climatology · thermohaline · cryosphere
mass extinction
Large-scale species elimination
- ecosystem collapseTotal breakdown of environmental systems
- biodiversity lossReduction in species variety
- apocalypseTotal civilizational collapse
freezing
Extremely cold
blizzard · hypothermia · frostbite · arctic · subzero · glacier · chill · shiver · sleet · hail
radiation
Energy propagation through space
- contaminationIntroduction of impurities
- radioactive decayUnstable atoms releasing energy
- isotopesAtomic number twins
cesium · strontium · iodine-131 · plutonium · gamma rays · Geiger counter · half-life · decontamination · hazmat · fallout shelter
sunless sky
obscurity · overcast · blackout · shroud · eclipse · shadow · umbra · penumbra
- catastrophesdisasters, disaster, natural disasters, catastrophe, apocalypse
- Post-Apocalypsewasteland, fallout, survivors, apocalypse, collapse
- Nuclearatomic bomb, atomic bombs, uranium, reactors, fission
- nuclear scienceradiation, neutrons, atoms, fission, uranium
- nuclear waratomic bomb, hydrogen bomb, ICBM, mushroom cloud, first strike
- anti-nuclearban the bomb, disarmament, nonproliferation, denuclearization, test ban
nuclear winterthermal runaway
Uncontrolled self-reinforcing temperature rise
winter, nuclear, nucleus, nucleotide, nucleoside, nuclei, nucleotides, nucleated, nuclearize