The Effects on the Atmosphere of a Major Nuclear Exchange -- Copyright -- NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL -- Acknowledgments -- Contents -- 1 Summary and Conclusions -- BACKGROUND -- THE COMMITTEE'S BASELINE CASE -- NOTES ON THE NATURE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF UNCERTAINTY -- CONCLUSIONS -- REFERENCES -- 2 Recommendations for Research -- REFERENCES -- 3 The Baseline Nuclear Exchange -- 4 Dust -- NUCLEAR CLOUD DYNAMICS -- DUST LOFTING BY A NUCLEAR CLOUD -- SOURCES OF DUST -- OBSERVATIONS OF NUCLEAR DUST CLOUDS -- PARTICLE SIZE DISTRIBUTIONS -- OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF AIRBORNE DUST -- DUST LOFTED IN THE BASELINE CASE -- EXCURSIONS -- SUMMARY -- REFERENCES -- 5 Fires -- OVERVIEW -- PRESENT-DAY SMOKE EMISSION AND REMOVAL -- HISTORICAL FIRE EXPERIENCE -- Earthquakes -- World War II -- Forest Fires -- Experimental fires -- IGNITION OF NUCLEAR FIRES -- Thermal phenomena -- Urban Ignition -- Forest Ignition -- BURDENS AND DISTRIBUTIONS OF COMBUSTIBLE MATERIALS -- Urban Combustibles -- Forest and Wildland Combustibles -- Urban Combustibles Consumed -- Forest and Wildland Fuels Consumed -- SMOKE EMISSIONS AND PROPERTIES -- Urban Smoke -- Emission Factors -- Size Distribution and Composition -- Optical Properties -- Forest Fire Smoke -- Fire Burning Times -- Smoke Injection Altitudes -- Water in Nuclear Clouds -- Removal from the Plume -- ESTIMATING SMOKE EMISSIONS IN A MAJOR NUCLEAR EXCHANGE -- Baseline Estimates -- Excursions from the Baseline Case -- Optical Depth Excursions -- UNCERTAINTIES -- SUMMARY -- REFERENCES -- APPENDIX 5-1: OBSERVATION OF PLUME HEIGHTS AND ASH TRANSPORT IN LARGE FIRES, BY F.E. FENDELL -- Plume Heights -- Smoke Obscuration -- REFERENCES -- APPENDIX 5-2: WATER IN NUCLEAR CLOUDS -- Explosion Clouds -- Fire Plumes -- Water Perturbation -- CO2 Perturbation -- Effects of Water Injections -- Indirect Water Perturbations -- REFERENCES.

6 Chemistry -- GASEOUS EMISSIONS FROM NUCLEAR FIREBALLS AND NUCLEAR WAR FIRES -- Nitric Oxide -- Fire Emissions -- Carbon Monoxide -- Hydrocarbons -- Oxides of Nitrogen -- EFFECTS OF EMISSIONS -- Ozone Shield Reduction -- Ozone Holes and Effects of NO2 Radiation Absorption -- Effects on Ozone of Past Nuclear Weapons Tests -- Uncertainty in Model Results -- Tropospheric Composition Changes -- Toxic Chemical Releases -- REFERENCES -- 7 Atmospheric Effects and Interactions -- OVERVIEW -- EARLY SPREAD AND EVOLUTION OF PARTICULATE CLOUDS -- DIRECT OPTICAL EFFECTS -- THERMAL EFFECTS IN ONE-DIMENSIONAL MODELS -- THERMAL AND CIRCULATION EFFECTS CALCULATED BY MULTIDIMENSIONAL MODELS -- MODIFICATION OF CLOUDINESS, PRECIPITATION, AND WINDS -- Ground Fog -- Cloudiness and Precipitation -- Zonal Mean Winds -- Other Large-Scale Wind Systems -- Ultra-High Clouds -- Longer Term Effects on Climate -- ANALOGS -- Arctic Haze -- Plumes from Large Forest Fires -- Early Plume from the Mount St. Helens Eruption -- Sahara Dust Plumes, the ''Harmattan'' -- Martian Global Dust Storms -- SUMMARY -- REFERENCES -- 8 Use of Climatic Effects of Volcanic Eruptions and Extraterrestrial Impacts on the Earth as Analogs -- VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS -- EXTRATERRESTRIAL IMPACTS -- REFERENCES -- Appendix: Evolution of Knowledge About Long-Term Nuclear Effects -- REFERENCES -- Index.