atomic turkey examination during the Cold War may have led to an increase of downfall for a period of at least two years , extend to a change of rain patterns thousands of miles from detonation sites , new research indicate .
More than half a century ago , the nuclear arms race ramp up as cosmos powers competed to develop nuclear weapons following heighten tensions spurred by World War II . During the Cold War of the 1950s and 1960s , the US and the Soviet Union conducted nuclear testing at various remote sites around the human beings , from theSouth Pacificto the desert of theAmerican Southwest . Many of these examination sitesbear the scar todayand some evenremain radioactive , but what happens at a nuclear internet site does not bide there . Between 1962 and 1964 , radioactive contamination spread throughout the atmosphere , ionizing the air and let go of electric explosive charge that altered rainfall patterns .
investigator at the University of Reading in the UK determined how electric charges released by radiation from trial detonations affected rainclouds at the prison term by brush up historical records between 1962 and 1964 from two weather stations in the United Kingdom . Weather record were then compared to days with high and low radioactively - generated charges and cross - cite with bomb test datum .
Writing in the journalPhysical Review Letters , the researchers found that clouds were visibly thick and there was an average of 24 percent more rain on days with more radioactivity . electric observations show that additional atmospherical ionisation triggered by radiation during the time lead to an “ increment in the world lap ’s conductivity current ” and , in fact , the “ stratospheric radioactive textile was so extensively distributed in the northern hemisphere that interchangeable electrical change are expected wide . ”
" By studying the radioactivity free from Cold War weapons mental testing , scientists at the time teach about atmospheric circulation pattern . We have now reused this data to probe the effect on rain , ” said Professor Giles Harrison , pass author and Professor of Atmospheric Physics at the University of Reading , in astatement .
" The politically charged ambiance of the Cold War lead to a atomic arms race and cosmopolitan anxiety . 10 later , that global swarm has yielded a ash grey liner , in give us a unique way to learn how electric charge affects rain . "
It is for the most part thought that electrical armorial bearing can change how urine droplet in clouds collide and compound , which could affect their sizing and influence rainfall . Rain make in clouds depends on a variety of factors , include condensation rates and how quick H2O droplets are able to gain tidy sum , make believe them operose enough to fall to the open . radiation can influence the charge of these droplets , using electric violence to modify and influence the clouds and their respective precipitation
The scientist conclude that their findings may be helpful for cloud - related geoengineering research to decide how electric charge might play a use in influencing pelting to potentially relieve droughts or possibly prevent flood tide .
