Would continental deserts appear at the equator of a planet?

[Barlie]

Oh man, thank you SO much! I had this gnawing feeling that I'd screw up the map if I just went ahead with what I understood. It's just for a homebrew pnp rpg game so I'm not quite sure why I care so much, but I do. Now I can move on with this map (and my life) xD.

I'm not really an expert in climatology, but doesn't the general climate also affect the size and quantity? I know, this wasn't the starting question, but as we are already into it, why not discuss it further.
IIRC the Sahara was green in former, warmer periods and it is still not clear why the area deteriorated into the current state.

I'm no expert myself, this is just what I found while unsuccessfully trying to figure out what Caenwyr so graciously told me. There's a theory out that says that the earth wobbles on its axis like a spinning top, periodically changing the orientation of the earth's axis. Along with that change, you'd get changes in locations of temperature zones, wind patterns and ocean currents. The tilt change doesn't even need to be drastic. It seems the most recent green period for the Sahara (between 6000 and 9000 years ago) was destroyed by an axis tilt change of only 0.69 degrees from the vertical. This is based on computer models and evidence from collected sediments, which support each other.

http://www.redorbit.com/news/science...as_once_green/

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/ti...t-1117177.html

Edit: I have just one more question. Assuming no terrain blocks the wind, how far do you have to travel inland before the area is no longer climatically connected to the ocean?

[Caenwyr]

Edit: I have just one more question. Assuming no terrain blocks the wind, how far do you have to travel inland before the area is no longer climatically connected to the ocean?

The group of climates not (or very weakly) influenced by ocean currents are called continental climates. In order to understand what these are, I suggest we first take a loot at the picture below.

Attachment 48323

As you can see continental climates only occur in cold and temperate regions. Sometimes they begin directly at the coast, sometimes they're hundreds of miles away from the sea. You also notice that, the more north you go, the closer the continental climate comes to the sea. The tempering, 'moisturizing' influence of the sea gets weaker. And the less influence you get, the more extreme the temperatures will be. In Siberia, temperatures can go as high as 90°F in summer and as low as -10°F in winter. The range in temperatures in sea climates is far smaller.

But actually I don't think you can rule out the influence of the terrain: it's one of the strongest factors! Just like with deserts, mountain ranges decide how much of the ocean's influence you get. You can have a continental climate right next to the sea, as long as it's separated from it by a mountain range.

But if you're asking about the maximum distance between the sea and the 'start' of a zone with a continental climate, I guess it's in the hundreds of miles, at least here on earth.

[Barlie]

The attachment you posted seems to not be working. Just to make sure I understand, you're saying that the weather tempering effect of large bodies of water on the climates of their coasts increases as you approach the equator and decreases as you approach the poles? And yeah, I wouldn't rule out the effect of mountains and other terrain types. Just needed as simple a case as I could think of to get the general idea. Thanks again by the way. In the 3 posts you've made in this thread, I've gotten more useable information for my purposes than in a few of weeks of research.