[WIP] Finishing Climates and Biomes

[Deadshade]

Actually, there could well be rivers. The rivers feeding the Aral sea (Amu Darya and Syr Darya) and ones that feed the lakes of the Tarim basin all originate in mountains, even though they are on the "rain shadow" side. Large mountains are going to have ice caps that will produce water during spring and summer when the ice partially melts. Though it may be that the said rivers sort of "dry up" before reaching the ocean, that can happen with large desert areas. Although there shouldn't be too many (major) rivers.

Except that his map has nothing to do with the Pamir where Amu Darya takes source.

1) The Pamir region is very extended in surface while the range here is thin. As the map shows we have here mostly very low altitudes immediately N of the range.
2) Pamir is farther N (around 40° N) , here it is 30° N
3) Pamir benefits of the largest glaciers outside of polar regions (because of 1). Here it is not the case.
4) Pamir is open in the W side while this range is continuous.
5) Precipitations in the Pamir region are 200-300 mm/year. Here it would be virtually 0. Physics prohibits precipitation in the descending branch of the Hadley cell

Depending on the altitude of the range, there could be some glaciers (or not) which could (or not) create in spring and summer temporary streams which would dry out fast if they flowed in the desert to the N anyway.
But this is anecdotical and most probable is that the glaciers would have all disappeared if there ever were some because his range would be like the Anti Atlas range only with Sahara on the N side instead of an ocean.
That's why there would be no rivers flowing north in the central part.

[Charerg]

You have a point that the Amu Darya wasn't perhaps the best of examples. Still, the mountains here aren't as high as the Himalayas, although it's a bit hard to judge the precipitations, especially since at least I find it hard to think of the land as "Asia-sized", for whatever reason.

Regarding the Hadley cell, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it in reality more like a bit more localized high pressure centers rather than a continuous band, especially during summer? Since this continent is more or less comparable to Asia, I'd say the Monsoon effect would cause rains in summer even at the northern side of the main mountain range (similar to China).

Here's a rough sketch of what I think might be plausible climate zones for the southern areas of the map:


Here, I haven't differentiated between hot and cold steppes (or deserts), and as I mentioned, it's a bit difficult to visualize the area as Asia-sized, so there may be some errors.

[Facubaci]

Charger:
So I'll set the high pressure center in the east of oceans, more to south of 30° N if it is winter, and more to the north of 30° N if it is summer. And that's why the western side of the continent is dry.
In summer the west of the continent is a center of low pressure, and in winter becomes a center of high pressure. In winter the east of the continent is a center of high pressure, and in summer doesn't exist any longer.
The prevailing winds follow these currents: East-West (south of 30° N) and West-East (north of 30° N)


Deadshade:
Ok, when air rises always causes precipitation. Not when it descends.
So the map of the average rainfall is wrong? I did it according to the map of Koppen, I looked rainfall in many cities with the same climate and I calculated an average. Then you say to remove the numbers and just put "Ecuador Always High mm/year", "30°N Always Low mm/year", "60° N depending on the wind," it seems very general anyway.

And I tried to draw how the cells works.


Here I marked desert areas and rivers. There shouldn't be rivers in these areas?


I can include some rivers that dries before reaching the sea, but I think don't worth to draw it on the map. What rivers should remove and where should to put more?
The mountains from east of the ridge are lower, perhaps there isn't too much ice melted to form those great rivers of the valley.

Thanks!

[Charerg]

First off, remember that "atmospheric cells" are bit of a simplification, the theory doesn't 100% correspond to reality. You should probably read Azelor's post on page 5 of his tutorial regarding winds, the wind patterns are explained pretty well there. But here are the maps for pressures and surface winds for Earth, these show the location and seasonal fluctuation of the oceanic high pressure centers well (as well as the Asian monsoon):

January:


July:


Also, I think the western coast of your continent wouldn't be desert north of the "hook" there, you have to take the warm current into account. Plus, 30-40 latitude is where Mediterranean climates show up on Earth, I'd say that the area between these latitudes on the western coast of your continent would be Cs climates. See my prior post regarding which areas should be desert (unless someone more knowledgeable like Azelor or Deadshade disagrees, I think it should be about right). Although I may have made the dry areas extend too far north (and it's a bit of a judgement call where to put the boundary between desert and steppe), I'm fairly confident they shouldn't extend any further northwards.

[Azélor]

Well the climate map I made, was done a long time ago, and I've done it to give just an outlook.

Btw, why did you got rig of the low pressure system is the east during summer?

[Facubaci]

Hi guys.
I don't wanna be annoying, but I really don't have any knowledge about geography or climate. I cannot apply the information I read about temperature, precipitation and wind currents on my map, or, when I try, it leads me to more complex issues that I don't understand or that I don't really need.
So if it isn't too much to ask, I would like if you give me, simply, the basic characteristics of my world: temperature, wind currents and precipitation of the different places. Because I am a newbie in this issues.

I'm writing a story, and I like to know about the places of my world, but only the basic and essential issues in each place, to describe and to know what happens in them. I don't know, and I don't really need the scientific technicalities about geography or climate.

I hope you can help me. I want to end these issues haha.

Thank you very much!

PD: A question: How the novelists who don't understand about these weather issues can write about their worlds? 'cause I don't think they have these troubles, a lot of them may not have any idea about geography, I suppose.

[Charerg]

I think most novelists just think in lines of "this place has an environment like France, this is like India" and so forth. Anyway, when creating a fantasy world there's a lot of guesswork involved. I or someone else can of course make "our version" of the wind currents, temperatures and winds, but while generally speaking the deserts will be in the same place and so forth, there's always some room for personal preference.

Though first you'll have to decide how much detail you want? My recommendation would be just a basic Köppen-Geiger climate map, since that should tell you what the environment is in each place, generally speaking. And I guess January/July wind patterns, since those will be useful. Just keep in mind that these are just "wind patterns", they tell the general direction of the wind on a global scale, but locally the wind direction could differ.

[Azélor]

it leads me to more complex issues that I don't understand or that I don't really need.

That's the thing with climates: complex and your not always sure if it's going to be useful.

Anyway, can you provide a full world map? At least, just place you continent on an empty world map. If you just want a rough idea, it would work just fine. We can guess what the climates are compared to Earth an some basic knowledge of climatology...

[Facubaci]

Hello. Thanks for answering and understand me, Azelor and Charerg.

Sure, I want a map with the basic data about climates, so I can say "this place is like France, and this is like India". The level of detail I need is a basic Köppen-Geiger climate map, and some other simple data, such as wind currents in January and July, as you say. So I can describe the places with its temperature, precipitation and direction/intensity of the winds. But all very basic and general. And if it's needed to research a lot about some data like the winds in a particular area, I just omit that data for that area. No problem.
I just want to make my world as real as possible, but without scientific technicalities that are too complex for the purpose I need. As you say, Azelor, there're some climatological things that, for me, are not useful.

Here I made a planisphere map of my world. As can be seen, the continent is in the northern hemisphere. There's another continent located transversely to the first one, but it isn't so important. The world's size is similar to Earth: 18,000km from 90° S to 90° N against 20,000km of Earth; and 36,000km of equatorial circumference against 40.000km of Earth. The tilt's degrees, the distance to its star and its orbit are equal to Earth.



What another information can I give you to help to develop the map?
Thank you very much!

[Facubaci]

Hello,
If you need more information about the world just tell me. Remember that I don't need a complex map with all the bioclimatic scientific characteristics, only an idea about temperature, precipitation and maybe wind currents and humidity. Anything else.

Thanks very much