Indo Pak war in 2025 - the study that probably got the year right talked about a nuclear war too: A study from 2019 got the possible year of a potential India-Pakistan war eerily close to reality.

It said the war could happen in 2025, and now, a military confrontation between India and Pakistan seems likely in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack of April 22. The study had projected several things, but the main focus was on what would happen if the war goes nuclear. Here is what it said:

Who did the study on Indo-Pak war in 2025?

The study was led by University of Colorado scientists, along with Rutgers University researchers. It was published in the Science Advances journal.

The study used inputs from US National Center for Atmospheric Research, Federation of American Scientists, Natural Resources Defense Council, University of Texas Rio Grande and University of California at Los Angeles.

Why was the study on Indo-Pak war in 2025 carried out?

The main purpose of the study was to warn against a nuclear war, and to emphasise the importance of the global conventions against it .

Specifically, it highlighted the importance of the 2017 UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

The authors carried out projections based on available data at the time, to show how devastating an atomic war between the two south Asian notions could be, not only for the region but also for the whole world.

What did the 2019 study on Indo-Pak conflict say about nuclear war?

As per the study, in case of a nuclear war, 100 million people would die immediately.

Between 50 million and 125 million people could die from after-effects of the war, if India used 100 nuclear strategic weapons and Pakistan used 150, projected the study, using computer simulations.

A mass starvation across the globe could eventually follow, leading to more deaths.

'Such a war would threaten not only the locations where bombs might be targeted but the entire world,' Alan Robock at Rutgers University's environmental sciences department, who co-authored the study, said at the time.

The 2019 study projected up to 500 nuclear weapons for India, Pakistan in 2025

India and Pakistan have been traditionally described by security analysts as two nuclear-armed states within striking distance of each other.

As per the projections in the 2019 study, India could have a combined 400 to 500 nuclear weapons by 2025.

The explosive power of these weapons could range anywhere from 15 kilotonnes. That's 15,000 tonnes of TNT, similar to the US bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.

A nuclear war aftermath: projections by the study

The explosions from nuclear weapons of India and Pakistan, if used, could lead to fires that can release 16 million to 36 mn tonnes of soot, or black carbon.

This smoke would go into the Earth's upper atmosphere and cover the whole world within weeks.

As per the study's projections, the soot would absorb solar radiation and heat the air.

As a result of the spreading smoke, sunlight would decline by up to 35 per cent, the study projected.

This will in turn lead to the cooling of the Earth's surface by up to 5 degrees Celsius.

Precipitation will come down by up to 30 per cent.

Environmental impact of an Indo-Pak nuclear war

The study projected a fall in vegetation growth by up to 30 per cent. Ocean productivity would decline by up to 15 per cent.

It said that these impacts would take at least 10 years to recover from, as the smoke would stay in the atmosphere.