Sure, go ahead and show us your wind/ pressure work ups. It's understood that they're "thinking out loud" material, not polished output. Are the darker lines hour tropics of cancer & Capricorn? If so, I see what you mean about small axial tilt.
So, this is my second map ever. I really don't remember the first being so troublesome I've spent the better part of 2 days trying to figure the climate layout, and I finally must ask for advice.
The two lower pieces of the eastern continent, and the area in the western continent just above the equator are giving me the most trouble as they're constantly under high pressure and also near mountains, and I can't figure which side of the mountains would be receiving rain.
The only real noteworthy thing is the tiny tilt on this planet. All the colors are simply my best guesses at precipitation. Anyway, here she is:
map.jpg
northern summer.jpg northern winter.jpg
Last edited by Ourea; 04-18-2013 at 01:20 PM.
Sure, go ahead and show us your wind/ pressure work ups. It's understood that they're "thinking out loud" material, not polished output. Are the darker lines hour tropics of cancer & Capricorn? If so, I see what you mean about small axial tilt.
Those are indeed the tropics... The tilt is only 7°! There's a fair bit of eccentricity in the orbit, however, so the seasons shouldn't be too bland.
I've gone ahead and appended the original post with the pressure maps. Hopefully someone with a more intelligent eye can see where I've gone wrong. My assumption is the high pressure system would simply wind up dumping its rain as it rose over the mountains on the west continent. On the west I just sort of guessed :/
Two articles that might be useful with the scant tilt / significant eccentricity are the bit on planetary characteristics from the Wikipedia article on planetary habitability, and this world builder thread.. One thing I can glean is that it is the marked tilt of Earth that 'sloshes' warmth toward poles; with less tilt the poles would be colder and equator warmer - all other things being equal. Your eccentricity could exacerbate that moderate it, depending on which direction the tilt is at which part of the orbit.
I can only assume the Hadley Cells stay symmetrical, and three in number per hemisphere, so the general pattern of highs and lows might be similar to Earth's - except with less Intertropical Convergence Zone motion during the year, maybe the summer to winter highs vs lows shifts would be minimized. If the cells stay like we're used to, you get the same (-ish) bands of wetter vs drier climate. Did you start with bands to get those highs vs lows, or did you just use the "continental high in thus-and-such season" rules of thumb?
Primarily I've been using the Climate Cookbook as a resource, as well as your old thread "Where does the wind blow?" It's been invaluable really.
I started off using the general seasonal rule of thumb, and when it seemed a little too restricted, I overlaid the bands and such (adjusted for even the minor tilt) and refined them from there. Though it could certainly be more precise, as far as I can tell it would only really alter some areas around the coasts where I was sloppy. Taking a second look at it has helped me a bit in determining rainshadows and such, however.
Also, thank you for the links! The second one in particular has a world similar to my own (though the rotation isn't quite so fast) and it will take me some time to go through it. Now it's got me thinking about polar days/nights and stuff like that I hadn't even considered
At any rate, here is the updated map. I'm mostly pleased, though climate still worries me. I wanted a washed sort of look, but perhaps the deserts could be a bit more distinct. And I completely forgot that continent on the edges there - oops.
map2.jpg
I'm miffed at myself for not considering projection, because it means more work now. Ideally it'd be stereographic, but I have no idea how to handle distortion at all.
Hah, I guess we can't change thread titles?
map5.jpg
I'm a bit worried about the readability of some of the elements, but I suppose at this point it is what it is.
Having some iso elements on such a projection map looks interesting. Though those elements lack of contrast to my taste. Also mountains looks a bit huge regarding the (supposed) scale of the map?
Ourea - I changed the title for ya
Art Critic = Someone with the Eye of an Artist, Words of a Bard, and the Talent of a Rock.
Please take my critiques as someone who Wishes he had the Talent
That looks really cool, actually.