Geographical Help Needed

[AslanC]

Hey there guys,

I found this Pangaea Ultimate image online and want to adapt it for a campaign map.

The thing is, while having almost everything I want, it seems to be missing a BIG HONKING DESERT.

I was wondering, based on your all knowledge of geography and weather patterns, where would be the best place for such a thing?

Any ideas?

Cheers!

pangea.jpg
Click for larger view

[Chick]

Hey there guys,

I found this Pangaea Ultimate image online and want to adapt it for a campaign map.

The thing is, while having almost everything I want, it seems to be missing a BIG HONKING DESERT.

I was wondering, based on your all knowledge of geography and weather patterns, where would be the best place for such a thing?

Any ideas?

Cheers!

Deserts occur primarily in two types of places .... downwind from a big mountain range (airflow loses moisture going up and over the range, so it's very dry behind) and in the latitudes between 20 and 30 degrees north and south (read Wikipedia on Hadley Circulation to understand why). There's also a pretty good explanation with pictures here: http://permaculturenews.org/2013/09/...e-reasons-why/

[AslanC]

Thanks Chick,

Yup I knew that and about rain shadow and all that fun stuff, and much like algebra I have no idea how to apply it. So I asked you guys for some help on this one as I think there are people here who would be able to look at the map and know. Hopefully

Cheers!

[Chick]

Well, I'm not sure what else you need, but if you want someone to paint some deserts on that map, here you go:

pangea with deserts.jpg

[AslanC]

Well thanks for that, but not was I was looking for. I am plenty handy with photoshop myself

Mostly I was looking for conversation and understanding, but I get a sense that I am somehow annoyed you, so I will just say thank you again and then not boter you anymore today.

Cheers sir.

[Chick]

I'm not at all annoyed, and I'm sorry if I sounded so. I'm just not sure what else you want to know.

Deserts occur downwind of mountain ranges due to moisture being rained out as the air rises over them, leaving dry air to come down the leeward side, causing deserts there.

Deserts occurs in the latitudes between 20 and 30 degrees north and south of the equator, because the Hadley circulation causes downflow of dry air in those latitudes.

You can read about both of these if you want deeper understanding, or you can just put your deserts in those places as I indicated on the map.

[AslanC]

All good mate.

The issue I have is this, the rain shadow can create drier areas like the prairies of Canada that are definitely not deserts. So for me I want to make sure that I get it right, knowing which would be scrubland, which would be grasslands, what would be arid lands, and what would be desert.

Hard to get an idea from reading these articles on the subject as they don't really explain that as I can see.

Hope that explains it more.

[Chick]

As a generality, rain shadow regions are not totally dry because some moisture does make it over the mountains or around the ends or even with fronts that come from side directions.

Latitude deserts are very dry, true deserts, because none of the surface level air masses there have any significant moisture. Look for example at the Atacama Desert in Chile ... right on the Pacific seacoast, but still bone dry. Even so, there is some rain in desert areas, so there is no blanket statement about which will regions will be the driest.

[Azélor]

Latitude deserts are almost assured on west coasts (Atacama, Sonora, Sahara, Namibia, west Australia) but not on east coasts.

[AslanC]

Forgive my ignorance, but what does Latitude desert mean? I always get confused on longitude vs. latitude and have no idea how to process it in this instance.