Tate D

ATMO 1010

Dec 2 18

The Analysis of the movie The Day After Tomorrow

How the Film is related to Weather

In the film, an intense and abrupt shift in climatic patterns has resulted in massive destruction of

property and loss of lives in various parts of the world. A paleoclimatologist attempts to explain

to global leaders the projected events in climate patterns (Methmann and Delf 12). In general, the

film highlighted certain crucial issues related to climate change. Therefore, the primary objective

of the movie was to increase the viewer’s understanding of the concept of climate change and the

inherent need to mitigate it.

How Weather was used to Move the Story Forward

The film purely revolves around the issue of climate change. The action-packed scenes in the

movie all depict the perceived impacts of this weather issue. For instance, Jack ventures out into

the wild storm to save his son who is stuck in the city of New York. Therefore, the weather issue

has been used to move the story forward through the scientific twists and plots (Methmann and

Delf 12). In the movie, the Coast Guards indefinitely close the beaches of coastal cities around

the world since a cyclonic system stretching across the coastal basin due to low pressure is

threatening to cause havoc. Subsequently, the twisters that are dropping allover different cities

across the world are destroying buildings and properties.

The Science behind the Phenomenon I Chose to Research

The movie is based on a weather phenomenon called climate change. There are numerous

scientific perspectives and assertions behind climate change. Jack explains that climate change

can majorly be attributed to rising temperatures resulting in global warming. More specifically,

direct heating from the sun is perceived to be strong enough to influence weather patterns.

Correspondingly, in the movie, the Gulf Stream (the North Atlantic Current) is cited as the

primary cause of climate change (Leiserowitz 17). The movie has further attributed climate

change to volcanic eruptions.

The gases and ash spewed during volcanic eruptions are stuck in the stratosphere. Some

of these gases such as sulfur can initiate the cooling processes back on the earth’s surface

resulting into floods. Therefore, the gases can accelerate the impacts of global warming.

Similarly, greenhouse gas emissions (carbon dioxide) can also be cited as another possible cause

of climate change. The figure below illustrates the accumulation of such greenhouse gases such

as carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

 The simultaneous heating of the ocean waters and the melting of the ice glaciers has

affected the weather circulation patterns (Reddy 3). Remarkably, the extreme drops in

temperatures to unbearable levels are also evident in some scenes of the movie. For instance,

when the fuel lines of the helicopters ferrying the royal family to safety is frozen because of the

extreme temperatures.

How the Movie has depicted the Reality of Climate Change

Undeniably, the film has highly exaggerated the reality of climate change and its possible

impacts (Leiserowitz 21). There are certain inherent truths about some of the issues that have

been discussed in the movie. For instance, the film accurately attests that global heating and

cooling can be detrimental. Furthermore, the description of the projected scales at which the

events are occurring highlights the negative impacts of climate changes.

 Works Cited

Leiserowitz, Anthony A. "Day after Tomorrow: A Study of Climate Change Risk Perception."

Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development, vol. 46, no. 9, 2004, pp.

10-39.

Methmann, Chris, and Delf Rothe. "Politics for the Day after Tomorrow: The Logic of

Apocalypse in Global Climate Politics." Security Dialogue, vol. 43, no. 4, 2012, pp. 10-

344.

Reddy, P. Parvatha. "Causes of Climate Change." Climate Resilient Agriculture for Ensuring

Food Security. Springer, 2015, pp. 3-26.