This page shows a simulation of the Topol (SS-25) (currently in Russian arsenal) (800 kt) nuclear bomb (800 kt) detonated over New York, NY, USA. The map displays the estimated fireball, the zones of heavy, moderate and light blast damage, thermal radiation and ionizing radiation. Click «What does that mean?» for a detailed legend, or run your own detonation on the main page.
The 800-kiloton warhead of the Topol (SS-25) is the kind of weapon a strategic missile actually carries today — about 50 Hiroshimas, delivered in roughly 30 minutes. On this map it is an airburst, the height chosen to maximise the area of heavy blast damage. The fireball is about 1.8 km across; total destruction (20 psi) reaches roughly 2.6 km, residential collapse (5 psi) about 6.5 km, third-degree burns on exposed skin about 11.5 km, and broken windows with flying-glass injuries (1 psi) about 20 km.
What that means in New York
Centred on Lower Manhattan, the 2.6 km zone of total destruction covers the Financial District, City Hall, Chinatown, SoHo and the Brooklyn Bridge; the 6.5 km collapse ring takes in all of Manhattan below about 34th Street, Jersey City's waterfront, Brooklyn Heights, Williamsburg and Governors Island. Third-degree burns to 11.5 km reach Midtown, Hoboken, Newark's eastern edge, Red Hook and Prospect Park; the 20 km ring of broken glass runs from Central Park's north end to Bay Ridge, Newark Airport and Jamaica, Queens.
This is the most densely populated ground in the United States: roughly 1.6 million people live in Manhattan alone and the outer ring holds several million more. Manhattan's tall buildings would both shield and channel the blast wave, something the plain rings cannot show. The 100-megaton scenario shows the physical ceiling over the same point; Effects of a nuclear explosion explains each ring.
Language 
