--- title: "Here’s Exactly How Screwed You’d Be in a Nuclear Apocalypse" description: "Climatologist Alan Robock from Rutgers University and his team studied what an all-out nuclear war between world nations could look like." date: "2020-02-12" modified: "2020-02-12" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/heres-exactly-how-screwed-youd-be-in-a-nuclear-apocalypse" categories: - "Energy" - "Nuclear Fusion" - "Renewable Energy" - "Science & Energy" tags: - "apocalypse" - "nuclear bomb" - "nuclear war" --- # Here’s Exactly How Screwed You’d Be in a Nuclear Apocalypse ![Climatologist Alan Robock from Rutgers University and his team studied what an all-out nuclear war between world nations could look like.]() *\Image: Jose E. Rodriguez/Department of Defense/Victor Tangermann\* It's a frightening thought experiment — what if Russia and the United States became embroiled in an all-out nuclear war? Climatologist Alan Robock from Rutgers University studied that scenario, outlined the terrifying vision in a [recent *Fox News* interview](). People inside the blast radius would be obliterated — but almost every form of life on Earth, down to ocean life, would also feel the pain. "A nuclear bomb is like bringing a piece of the sun to the surface of the earth for a fraction of a second, and everything within a certain distance would just flash into fire," Robock told *Fox News*. "In Hiroshima, there was a bomb that was 15 kilotons of explosive power, and everything within several square miles just burned and produced smoke." All that smoke would end up filling the stratosphere, blocking out the sun for more than five years, according to Robock. "The temperatures would be colder, there’d be less sunlight, less rain and there’d be excess UV radiation because the ozone would be destroyed," he told the channel. In a [2019 paper]() published in the American Geophysical Union's journal, Robock and his team predicted that a nuclear war would cause global temperatures to drop by 9 degrees Celsius over a year, with "freezing temperatures over much of the Northern Hemisphere during summer." Less sunlight and cold temperatures would end up wreaking havoc on our food supply. "Once the stores ran out of food and the food that was stored disappeared, it’d be very hard to get food," Robock told *Fox News*. And it gets worse: the oceans would get hit hard as well, as outlined in a [January paper]() co-authored by Robock and published in the journal *Geophysical Research Letters*. More carbon dioxide absorbed from the atmosphere means the oceans would become more acidic, dissolving the shells and skeletons of shellfish and corals. **READ MORE:** [What happens in a nuclear apocalypse?]() \[*Fox News*\] **More on nuclear winter:** *[This Video Shows Horrifying Devastation of US-Russia Nuclear War]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()