Publication Abstracts

Xia et al. 2022

Xia, L., A. Robock, K. Scherrer, C. Harrison, B.L. Bodirsky, I. Weindl, J. Jägermeyr, C. Bardeen, O.B. Toon, and R. Heneghan, 2022: Global food insecurity and famine from reduced crop, marine fishery and livestock production due to climate disruption from nuclear war soot injection. Nat. Food, 3, no. 8, 586-596, doi:10.1038/s43016-022-00573-0.

Atmospheric soot loadings from nuclear weapon detonation would cause disruptions to the Earth's climate, limiting terrestrial and aquatic food production. Here, we use climate, crop and fishery models to estimate the impacts arising from six scenarios of stratospheric soot injection, predicting the total food calories available in each nation post-war after stored food is consumed. In quantifying impacts away from target areas, we demonstrate that soot injections larger than 5 Tg would lead to mass food shortages, and livestock and aquatic food production would be unable to compensate for reduced crop output, in almost all countries. Adaptation measures such as food waste reduction would have limited impact on increasing available calories. We estimate more than 2 billion people could die from nuclear war between India and Pakistan, and more than 5 billion could die from a war between the United States and Russia — underlining the importance of global cooperation in preventing nuclear war.

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BibTeX Citation

@article{xi08000i,
  author={Xia, L. and Robock, A. and Scherrer, K. and Harrison, C. and Bodirsky, B. L. and Weindl, I. and Jägermeyr, J. and Bardeen, C. and Toon, O. B. and Heneghan, R.},
  title={Global food insecurity and famine from reduced crop, marine fishery and livestock production due to climate disruption from nuclear war soot injection},
  year={2022},
  journal={Nature Food},
  volume={3},
  number={8},
  pages={586--596},
  doi={10.1038/s43016-022-00573-0},
}

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RIS Citation

TY  - JOUR
ID  - xi08000i
AU  - Xia, L.
AU  - Robock, A.
AU  - Scherrer, K.
AU  - Harrison, C.
AU  - Bodirsky, B. L.
AU  - Weindl, I.
AU  - Jägermeyr, J.
AU  - Bardeen, C.
AU  - Toon, O. B.
AU  - Heneghan, R.
PY  - 2022
TI  - Global food insecurity and famine from reduced crop, marine fishery and livestock production due to climate disruption from nuclear war soot injection
JA  - Nat. Food
JO  - Nature Food
VL  - 3
IS  - 8
SP  - 586
EP  - 596
DO  - 10.1038/s43016-022-00573-0
ER  -

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