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 First edition | |
| Author | Art Bell,Whitley Strieber |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Atria Books |
Publication date | 1999 |
| ISBN | 0-671-04190-8 |
The Coming Global Superstorm (ISBN 0-671-04190-8) is a 1999 book byArt Bell andWhitley Strieber, which claims thatglobal warming might produce sudden and catastrophicclimate change. The eBook was published in 2001.[1]
First, theGulf Stream andNorth Atlantic drift would generate a cordon of warm water around theNorth Pole, which in turn holds in a frozen mass of Arctic air. Second, if the North Atlantic driftwere to shut down[broken anchor], that barrier would fail, releasing a flood of frozen air into theNorthern Hemisphere, causing a sudden and drastic temperature shift.
The book discusses a possible cause of the failure of the Gulf Stream: the melting of thepolar ice caps could drastically affect theocean salinity of the North Atlantic drift by dumping a large quantity of freshwater into the world's oceans.
Bell and Strieber contend that such destabilizations have occurred before, and cite seemingly impossible engineering feats by ancient civilizations which must have been catastrophically destroyed since they do not appear in the historical record. Among their examples are the archaeological ruins ofNan Madol, which the book claims were built with exacting tolerances and extremely heavy basalt materials, necessitating a high degree of technical competency. Bell and Strieber claim that no such society exists in the modern record, or even in legend, so one must have been destroyed by dramatic means.
Strieber and Bell assert that mammoths have been found preserved with food still in their mouths and undigested in their stomachs, so they must have been killed quickly in otherwise normal conditions. The book claims that they were preserved so well by quick freezing, which is taken as evidence of a rapid onset of a globalblizzard or similar event.
Interspersed with the analytical parts of the book are a series of interlinked short fictional scenarios, written in italics, describing what might transpire today if a destabilization of the North Atlantic Current were to occur. The fictional accounts of "current events" as the meteorological situation deteriorates provided background for, and is the source material of, the 2004 science fiction filmThe Day After Tomorrow. Indeed, some events from the book are portrayed in the film with little modification, such as the failure of theGulf Stream which freezes over large portions of the northern hemisphere includingNew York City.[2]
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