Nuclear war would ‘devastate the world’s oceans’ and cause years-long famine, study finds

Global marine productivity, however, was predicted to return to — and even exceed — its original state within ten years of the conflicts. This occurs, the team explained, because of enduring changes to ocean circulation that would push deep nutrients up to the surface, feeding phytoplankton.

The team added: “Unfortunately, such ‘good news’ never reaches Europe, as marine productivity remains compromised in the Arctic and North Atlantic relative to the rest of the world. This occurs because the new environmental state favours a different, larger, type of marine algae that can actually strip nutrients from the surface ocean once they die and sink.”

The problem with ocean recovery, the researchers explain, is that water both heats and cools very slowly — and the oceans are highly stratified, with different water masses layered on top of each other.

This, they explained, gives the ocean a much longer “memory” than the atmosphere. They noted: “Once disturbed, many changes are either not reversible on human timescales or are unlikely to return to their initial state.”

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Article source: https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1699052/nuclear-war-devastate-worlds-oceans-famine-study-russia-ukraine