edu.ucar.opensky::articles:25567 UCAR/NCAR - Library OpenSky Support PO Box 3000 Boulder CO 80307-3000 opensky@ucar.edu http://opensky.ucar.edu/ homepage pointOfContact 2025-12-24T20:07:13.424935 ISO 19115-2 Geographic Information - Metadata - Part 2: Extensions for Imagery and Gridded Data ISO 19115-2:2009(E) https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7gx4g94 https://doi.org/10.5285/8cd7e7bb-9a20-05d8-e053-6c86abc012c2 https Related Dataset #1 Atlantic meridional overturning circulation observed by the RAPID-MOCHA-WBTS (RAPID-Meridional Overturning Circulation and Heatflux Array-Western Boundary Time Series) array at 26N from 2004 to 2018. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.7742735.v1 https Related Dataset #2 WACCM4 150 Tg US-Russia A new ocean state after nuclear war 2022-08-07T00:00:00Z publication https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7gx4g94 https://doi.org/10.1029/2021AV000610 Harrison, C. S. author Rohr, T. author DuVivier, Alice K. author Maroon, E. A. author Bachman, Scott author Bardeen, Charles author Coupe, J. author Garza, V. author Heneghan, R. author Lovenduski, N. S. author Neubauer, P. author Rangel, V. author Robock, A. author Scherrer, K. author Stevenson, S. author Toon, O. B. author UCAR/NCAR - Library publisher Nuclear war would produce dire global consequences for humans and our environment. We simulated climate impacts of US-Russia and India-Pakistan nuclear wars in an Earth System Model, here, we report on the ocean impacts. Like volcanic eruptions and large forest fires, firestorms from nuclear war would transport light-blocking aerosols to the stratosphere, resulting in global cooling. The ocean responds over two timescales: a rapid cooling event and a long recovery, indicating a hysteresis response of the ocean to global cooling. Surface cooling drives sea ice expansion, enhanced meridional overturning, and intensified ocean vertical mixing that is expanded, deeper, and longer lasting. Phytoplankton production and community structure are highly modified by perturbations to light, temperature, and nutrients, resulting in initial decimation of production, especially at high latitudes. A new physical and biogeochemical ocean state results, characterized by shallower pycnoclines, thermoclines, and nutriclines, ventilated deep water masses, and thicker Arctic sea ice. Persistent changes in nutrient limitation drive a shift in phytoplankton community structure, resulting in increased diatom populations, which in turn increase iron scavenging and iron limitation, especially at high latitudes. In the largest US-Russia scenario (150 Tg), ocean recovery is likely on the order of decades at the surface and hundreds of years at depth, while changes to Arctic sea-ice will likely last thousands of years, effectively a "Nuclear Little Ice Age." Marine ecosystems would be highly disrupted by both the initial perturbation and in the new ocean state, resulting in long-term, global impacts to ecosystem services such as fisheries. UCAR/NCAR - Library OpenSky Support PO Box 3000 Boulder CO 80307-3000 opensky@ucar.edu http://opensky.ucar.edu/ homepage pointOfContact PDF Text theme Resource Type 2016-01-01T00:00:00Z publication Copyright author(s). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. None eng geoscientificInformation