Climate question

[Shaz1]

Hi guys,

Attached is a map of a world of a similar size to the Earth, at a similar distance to its sun, which is of a similar size and nature to our Sun. Its rotation and axis is also similar to our own.

Can anyone tell me approximately what they think the climate would look like in various parts of this world, and if they know, what the winds etc. would be like, too?

Oh, and the black like is the equator.

Thanks,


Shaz1

[Ryan K]

Good Morning Shaz,

Did you use Fractal Worlds for this?

[Ascension]

I don't have the foggiest idea other than hot at the equator and cold at the poles. You might want to poke through some of the WIP (works in progress) threads as many contain info on wind currents, tectonics, climate, biomes etc. I won't put the links here for ya cuz there are too many to list. When you find one, you might ask one of those fine fellas to help ya. Otherwise here's my 2 main nuggets: east of a mountain chain is going to be drier than west of the mountain chain; the hottest areas (tropical) are usually more wet and deserts are just north of this tropical region, then sub-tropical, temperate, tundra, and arctic as you head towards the pole.

[waldronate]

Althought Wikipedia isn't the best of sources, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmospheric_circulation is a fairly good discussion and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hadley_cell will give some insight into climate bands from equator to polar regions.

[Shaz1]

Good Morning Shaz,

Did you use Fractal Worlds for this?

I used Fractal Terrains. Why, is it obvious?

[Wordman]

I'm not a climatologist or anything, so all of this could be wrong. (I will mention, it would be useful if you could also give a "shifted" version of the world. That is if your map is centered at 0-degrees longitude, a version centered at 180-degrees would be useful.)

First, the percentage of the surface covered by oceans is much less than Earth, so it's likely that hurricanes on this world would be seriously strong.

Second, while our own planet has two distinct vertical "bands" of land the split the oceans up, this world does not. In the southern hemisphere, there is a large horizontal band of mostly uninterrupted water. It seems likely that a very strong current would circle the planet here. Unlike our own world, this current stays mostly at the same latitude, so wouldn't transmit heat from the equator to the poles as well as, say, the currents in the Atlantic do. Consequently, the south pole is likely to be really cold.

A similar phenomenon looks to exist in the northern hemisphere, but this could just be a visual trick. The interesting bit is right where the edge of the map is. (This is where a map centered on 180-degrees longitude would be useful.) It could be that a big current the builds of on the "right" of the map in the northern hemisphere, slams into a large gulf at the very left edge of the map, and that would probably create some very interesting currents and weather.

[Ryan K]

I used Fractal Terrains. Why, is it obvious?

I use it often enough, so I could tell. One of the major components that I find massively helpful with FT is the Rainfall, Temperature and Climate views.

Wordman's analysis seem as good as anything, I think - me not being a climatologist either, however. Using that, and by tweaking the Rainfall and or Temperature images a little, you will change the Climate projections also.

The way I get around having 'correct' climatology with my world building is simply to make sure the 'big' rules are followed, and allow the little rules that may be 'broken' to be left unexplained - because if I am writing about a 13th Century-esque kingdom, it's likely they won't know about coriolis force or thermohaline circulation. That is to say, the understand climate even less than we do today!

So, here's a couple of confusing pictures to show you how wind and ocean currents look on Earth.

[pickaboo]

The way I get around having 'correct' climatology with my world building is simply to make sure the 'big' rules are followed, and allow the little rules that may be 'broken' to be left unexplained - because if I am writing about a 13th Century-esque kingdom, it's likely they won't know about coriolis force or thermohaline circulation. That is to say, the understand climate even less than we do today!

If in doubt, use magic I will ask upstairs from the meteorology people if I have time, they're doing atmospheric simulations of the Earth. Maybe read some theses on their models so I can develop my own :>

edit:
Actually the answer is just that there will be great storms like those on Mars and possibly as large as your landmasses. Pretty rough ride, recommend living underwater