the movie "the day after tommorow" was about global warming, Why was it mostly cold in the movie?

Answer 1

The movie "The Day After Tomorrow" was based on what would happen if the Great Ocean Conveyor Belt were to shut down DUE to the effects of global warming

Basically the theory is if we melt enough of the glaciers on the earth their fresh water has a possiblity of diluing the salt water in certian areas of the ocean. By diluting these areas the ocean conveyor belt (a thermohaline aka it needs salt water and temperature to make it work) the ocean conveyor belt with its heat transfer and all will come to a halt.

This theory is based from when the last ice age over the United States took place, the left over melt from some of the snow poured into the ocean by the ocean conveyor belt's pump (which is up by greenland) and stopped the belts process completely, throwing Europe back into an ice age.

Answer 2

There is a theory in which global arming ultimately leads to global cooling. The movie took this alternative and enhanced it. This works by disruptions in weather systems that causes regional cooling of the Antarctic. This leads to an increase of its ice sheets. According to the theory there is a chance that the melting of the antarctic ice cap will cause disruptions in the Thermohaline circulation, of which the Gulf stream is a part. This circulation is what transports heat from the equator to the poles in a 'conveyer belt' equalizing the climate. The driving force is when the warm water from the equator cools as it reaches the poles. It sinks because of increased density as it cools. This sinking is the driving force. If the melting water from the poles is released quickly enough it could lead to a disruption in the sinking by acting as a lid (the melt water has lower density then the salt water of the oceans), blocking this vital part. A a result the poles would cool rapidly and glaciers would build. The increased ice surface would reflect back more sunlight to space, amplifying the effect. Most scientists does not think this is likely to happen but this is a scenario where it is possible that global warming leads to an ice age.

Answer 3

The movie was loosley based on what may happen if global warming causes the polar ice caps to melt beyond a certain point (perhaps they picked this particular scenario because of its irony--the planet as a whole becoming warmer--but one region becoming much colder).

The scenario is based on the fact that large scale melting will make the seawater in the North Atlantic less saline (salty). That would change the density of the water--and cause the warm-water Gulf Stream ocean current that warms the easttern coast of North America and northern Europe to change its course.

The result of that would be jsut what the movie says--even though the Earth is warmer overall, those regions would become much colder--as cold as during the Ice Ages, perhaps.

Beyond that, the movie isn't very realistic. First of all, there's no known mechanism that could form the kind of superstorms in the movie--and in any event, the transition to such a cold climate would take decades, not days. And centuries for glaciers to form. But, then, the movie wouldn't have been nearly as dramitic! :)

The basic premise, though, is valid.

Answer 4

Because even though we are supposed to experiencing so called "global warming" the temps aren't much different year to year. In fact we may be cooling now, coming off the highs reached in the late 1990's.

Since it is cooling, the term "global warming" doesn't always hold true. This is why the name was changed to "catastrophic climate change". Now one can claim there a problem if the temps go up or down.

Answer 5

As Marvinator said you need to watch it again. When the earth warms the ice melts and the fresh water from the ice mixes with the water in the gulf stream. The gulf stream works with a delicate balance of fresh water and salt water, if too much fresh water is dumped into the gulf strem then the salt water cannot sink the cold water down and south which means we will cool. I didn't explain it very well but if you watch the film again and look up gulf stream on wikipedia. Amancalledchuda said it can't happen, and it isn't likely to happen as it did in the film, certainly not as quickly but the sun being calm can cause a mini ice-age, also look up Maunder minimum in wikipedia.

Answer 6

Theoretically, once the polar ice caps melt off beyond a certain point, it will trigger oceans currents to shift, which they are doing. Some scientist believe that the Ice Ages where triggered by what some term as a polar shift. During this process there will be massive storms, inland and at sea. then the atmosphere will stabilize itself, causing a new ice age virtually overnight. They say this is why, some of the animals taken out of glacial ice seemed to be grazing when they froze.

Answer 7

Others here have explained the hypothesis behind how global warming could, in theory, trigger an ice age, but I don’t think anyone has pointed out forcefully enough that it’s just *not* going to happen.

“The Day After Tomorrow” is science fiction. The scenario it portrays is no more science fact than Michael Crichton’s “Jurassic Park” was. (And just in case anyone here in under the illusion that we actually could make a dinosaur, sorry, it’s not true, we can’t. Crichton made it up.)

So, enjoy the film by all means, but don’t worry that it might actually happen, because it’s just a fairy story.

Answer 8

It was just a movie. The people who make movies make up stuff to make movies more exciting. "The Day After Tomorrow" was about a scientist and his family, and what they did in a crisis. I liked it, but I didn't take it as prophetic. It was just a good story.

Answer 9

Because global warming changed the ocean's currents.

Answer 10

Because it is a Hollywood movie, not a factual documentary. Hollywood has never been know to let a little thing like facts stand in the way of a story.