Suppose a nuclear device is detontated in Manhattan...

[Gewehr98]

Boy, there's nothing like good fiction!

And that was nothing like good fiction.

The radioactive cloud continues southward, along the Atlantic seaboard.

Transport layer winds along the U.S. East coast run predominately West to East, save for localized circulation around fronts. Depending on the heat (aka yield) of the above-ground device, the plume could also reach the jet stream, which, again, runs West to East, albeit considerably faster.


Given a week's worth of transport, the debris plume from a small non-boosted device, say in the yield range of 5-10KT, would most likely transit far out into the Atlantic Ocean after detonation in Manhattan. Note the movement of the debris cloud after this above-ground nuclear test in Nevada on 1 April 1952. The numbers represent midnight GMT on that given day:

Can you guess what branch of the DoD gets paid to simulate and run domestic events of nuclear terrorism over and over again, using meteorological modeling and data accumulated during previous nuclear events? Then I get to go intercept the cloud repeatedly. And we practice the latter part of the mission exhaustively. Funny thing is, depending on the dispersion and transport rate, we're often concerned that the plume doesn't stay concentrated long enough for us to get a good sample.

 

[ravinraven]

Hey, G...98

The aforementioned cloud would IN FACT drift down the Atlantic Coast. That would be because of the near vacuum created by the sudden sucking of wind in Washington DC. The sucking combined with the sudden stop of the hot air would make the cloud head directly for the capital.

Anyway, I can hardly wait for the movie about this thread to come out.

rr

 

[clubsoda22]

not sure what the US should do, but i'd load up the rifle incase of civil unrest and hope the wind is blowing north (sorry new england)

 

[Gewehr98]

Ravinravin, I stand corrected.

You're absolutely correct, I hadn't figured on the subsequent vacuum created in Washington, D.C.

My tasking to fly against the aforementioned plume would probably come from either Air Force One enroute to an undisclosed location, or an E-4B that just departed Offutt AFB, since the National Command Authority would have long since have departed D.C.

 

[HBK]

I like your solution, Riley. You'd get my vote.

 

[cratz2]

I must say that I'm impressed as heck that this thread is 8 pages long and still open.

As for the morality question, that just can't be debated... It's not possible to compare one culture's morality against another culture's. It seems one sided from either side. We can't see how members of one religion can justify flying planes into buildings but they probably can't see how we can claim a moral high ground while attacking two Muslim countries killing their residents overseas because they killed our residents here.

War in general is immoral. Each person must do what they feel they must do (I hate that phrase) but most religions believe we will each stand before God to be judged for our actions. I doubt God will love to hear how we killed anyone, regardless of why we did it. Of course something had to be done about 9/11. Goes without saying. But it is a war that will never, ever end. As long as the earth turns, there will be wars because of religion.

Bless us all... we need it. And bless our troops.