The central premise of the film, The Day After Tomorrow, is that global warming could lead to the shutdown of?

Question

the North Atlantic "heat pump" (probably the major driver of global ocean circulation), causing extreme changes in climate around the world. Is this possible?

Answer 1

Most scientists agree that this IS possible, however there's no way in heck it would happen like "The Day After Tomorrow." There is a very real risk of Europe and the United States experiencing colder temperatures if the Gulf Stream becomes diluted, but it's something that would happen gradually over years or decades, not in just a few days!

Of course that still means the possibility could be bad for us, but it would be nothing like the sudden "cold snaps" in the The Day After Tomorrow.

Answer 2

I'll have to search through the credits of that MOVIE MADE FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES and see if Al Gore's name is hiding in there somewhere. That is his style of informing the populace.

Answer 3

According to a recent lecture I went to it is.   It would take as little as 4-5 years for it to happen.   It would NOT be accompanied by the megastorms in the movie though.    England would be more like Greenland in temperature.

Answer 4

if you mean the Atlantic thermohaline circulation, its currently considered to be a 'Lowly sensitive tipping element, intermediate uncertainty'

http://www.bio-medicine.org/biology-news...

Answer 5

According to some it is possible.  I think it's a pretty low probability scenario.  Generally speaking when you add heat to a system, it gets hotter.

Answer 6

Yes, but that movie is wildly inaccurate.  The pump would shut down, but not the way the movie displays.