''The Coming Global Superstorm'' () is a 1999 book by

Art Bell Arthur William Bell III (June 17, 1945 – April 13, 2018) was an American broadcaster and author. He was the founder and the original host of the paranormal-themed radio program ''Coast to Coast AM'', which is syndicated on hundreds of ...

and

Whitley Strieber Louis Whitley Strieber (; born June 13, 1945) is an American writer best known for his horror novels ''The Wolfen'' and '' The Hunger'' and for '' Communion'', a non-fiction account of his alleged experiences with non-human entities. He has mai ...

, which warns that

global warming In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

might produce sudden and catastrophic

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

Thesis

First, the

Gulf Stream The Gulf Stream, together with its northern extension the North Atlantic Drift, is a warm and swift Atlantic ocean current that originates in the Gulf of Mexico and flows through the Straits of Florida and up the eastern coastline of the Unit ...

and North Atlantic drift would generate a cordon of warm water around the

North Pole The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distinguish from the Ma ...

, which in turn holds in a frozen mass of Arctic air. Second, if the North Atlantic drift were to shut down, that barrier would fail, releasing a flood of frozen air into the

Northern Hemisphere The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the Equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined as being in the same celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the solar system as Earth's Nort ...

, causing a sudden and drastic temperature shift. The book discusses a possible cause of the failure of the Gulf Stream: the melting of the

polar ice cap A polar ice cap or polar cap is a high-latitude region of a planet, dwarf planet, or natural satellite that is covered in ice. There are no requirements with respect to size or composition for a body of ice to be termed a polar ice cap, no ...

s could drastically affect the ocean 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 is the archaeological ruins of Nan Madol, which the book claims were built with exacting tolerances and extremely heavy basalt materials, necessitating a high degree of technical competency. Since no such society exists in the modern record, or even in legend, the society must have been destroyed by dramatic means. While other explanations beside a global meteorological event are possible, a correlating evidence set is presented in the

woolly mammoth The woolly mammoth (''Mammuthus primigenius'') is an extinct species of mammoth that lived during the Pleistocene until its extinction in the Holocene epoch. It was one of the last in a line of mammoth species, beginning with '' Mammuthus s ...

. Strieber and Bell assert that since mammoths have been found preserved with food still in their mouths and undigested in their stomachs, these animals must have been killed quickly, in otherwise normal conditions. They were preserved so well by quick freezing, which is taken as evidence of a rapid onset of a global

blizzard A blizzard is a severe snowstorm characterized by strong sustained winds and low visibility, lasting for a prolonged period of time—typically at least three or four hours. A ground blizzard is a weather condition where snow is not falling ...

or similar event.

In popular culture

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 film ''

The Day After Tomorrow ''The Day After Tomorrow'' is a 2004 American science fiction disaster film directed, co-produced, and co-written by Roland Emmerich. Based on the 1999 book '' The Coming Global Superstorm'' by Art Bell and Whitley Strieber, the film stars De ...

''. Indeed, some events from the book are portrayed in the film with little modification, such as the failure of the

which freezes over large portions of the northern hemisphere including

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

References

External links

What Is A Global Superstorm
Archived website 1999 non-fiction books 1999 in the environment Futurology books Environmental non-fiction books Books by Whitley Strieber Non-fiction books adapted into films Climate change books Collaborative non-fiction books Atria Publishing Group books {{environment-book-stub

Thesis

In popular culture

See also

References

External links