Questions tagged [climate]
For questions about specific changes in the characteristics of the weather in a location. You should also consider the tags [weather] and [seasons].
801
questions
70
votes
18
answers
16k
views
Ultimate Australian Canal
First of all, yes I'm Australian, and yes I am using a kangaroo to type this up.
If you take a look at Australia, it's a pretty sad place geographically. Very flat, very dry, mostly desert and for ...
- 1,512
59
votes
3
answers
28k
views
Creating a realistic world map - Currents, Precipitation and Climate
This Query is part of the Worldbuilding Resources Article.
Once geological processes and erosion have created a landscape this landscape will in turn alter the planet. Ocean currents and trade winds ...
- 76.8k
53
votes
2
answers
15k
views
How would winds behave on a tidally locked planet?
If an earth-sized planet were tidally locked to a star, and was in the life zone of its star with an earth-like atmosphere, what would its wind patterns be like?
The planet would have one hot ...
- 46k
52
votes
21
answers
14k
views
What natural phenomena could make an island unreachable?
If an island in a sub-tropical region were to be unreachable because of natural phenomena, what could those phenomena be?
The people trying to reach said island have 17th century seafaring ...
- 531
52
votes
4
answers
6k
views
What would a planet spinning fast enough to allow geostationary orbit near the surface look like?
From an answer to a previous question of mine:
A planet spinning fast enough to allow geostationary orbit near the surface would result in odd side effects. Any object at rest on the equator would ...
- 12.3k
45
votes
8
answers
8k
views
Can two adjacent, life-sustaining planets orbit a star such that they are rarely near each other?
I have two planets and humans live on both of them. Humans need not have developed on these planets, but the planets should support human life with the allowance that the humans have technology ...
- 574
36
votes
6
answers
6k
views
Fantasy map that has minimal land at the equator. What does this mean for rainforests and the world as a whole?
I created a fantasy map a while back, but only recently have I realised it may have a major problem. There is next to no land at the equator although some land between 0-30 degrees. The vast majority ...
- 544
36
votes
4
answers
2k
views
How to Survive Mountain Environments With a Tribal Culture?
Assume we have an Earth-like environment.
If a tribe with only early medieval technology were to settle in a mountain environment:
What resources would be needed to deal with the elevation, cold, ...
- 2,772
33
votes
16
answers
6k
views
How could mankind of ancient times cause significant climate change?
They don't posses any advanced knowledge, their knowledge is in fact irrelevant, just their possible actions (it doesn't matter how irrational those actions might be) that would cause significant ...
- 619
33
votes
3
answers
9k
views
Creating a realistic world map - Erosion
This Query is part of the Worldbuilding Resources Article.
Once geological processes have created a landscape a number of factors come into play in order to reshape it. This includes weather and ...
- 76.8k
32
votes
4
answers
5k
views
Is it possible for people to live in the eye of a permanent hypercane?
Wikipedia lists a potential for a hypercane which can have an eye of up to 190 miles in diameter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypercane
Say there's an earthlike planet that for whatever reason has a ...
- 571
32
votes
7
answers
3k
views
What computational resources would work for a 550-year climate forecast of our earth?
Folks, I'm in a bit of a jam.
I am writing a fictional future history to support a series of post-collapse science fiction stories set ca. 2560 Gregorian. The first story, The Borax Road Affair, has ...
- 4,364
26
votes
11
answers
5k
views
Is it possible to have a strip of cold climate in the middle of a planet?
Would it be possible to have a region on a planet that is not near its poles that has below freezing temperatures most of the year, while having more temperate regions both above and below it? If so ...
- 261
25
votes
7
answers
6k
views
What would make a place always misty?
What would cause a place to be always misty?
It is in a Fantasy setting, but I am looking for a feasible explanation.
- 1,241
25
votes
8
answers
4k
views
What sort of materials could be used to make clothing in a swamp?
We have some characters living in a wetland biome (freshwater swamp, specifically) without access to trade from other areas. What kinds of options do they have when it comes to using the natural ...
- 561
25
votes
8
answers
3k
views
Equatorial icecaps and polar jungles a fantasy or reality?
I am writing a science fiction movie script and a planet idea came to me a few weeks ago: A planet with equatorial icecaps and polar jungles. As interesting and intriguing as this is to think about, ...
- 1,502
24
votes
14
answers
6k
views
Is it possible for a planet’s climate to block, or at least make wireless communication irrelevant?
So, I’m writing a sci-fi story, which has a setting which involves human colonists crash landing on a massive, icy hellhole. The weather is extreme on the surface, and because of it, wireless ...
- 407
24
votes
9
answers
13k
views
Result of terraforming away the deserts
The area of the earth covered by desert is more than 20%. (Sites range from 20-33%, I don't know why the wide range).
With technology close to providing zero cost solar (not free, but declining each ...
user6320
23
votes
8
answers
8k
views
How can a valley surrounded by mountains be fertile and rainy?
We all know about Rain Shadow - And if you don't now you do - and that the inner side of a mountain as compared to the ocean would be drier.
Now a worldbuiding problem going around that phenomenon. ...
- 14.3k
23
votes
17
answers
7k
views
How does a Game of Thrones-style hyperwinter occur?
“Oh, my sweet summer child," Old Nan said quietly, "what do you know
of fear? Fear is for the winter, my little lord, when the snows fall a
hundred feet deep and the ice wind comes howling ...
- 11k
23
votes
11
answers
4k
views
Can you replace a sun with a burning moon?
In our solar system light and heat are, of course, provided by the sun. I was wondering if a comparable effect might be had by positing a burning moon instead? So rather than a true star, you'd have a ...
- 5,956
23
votes
4
answers
2k
views
How would solar activity change if the Sun was impacted by a planet?
Suppose that a planet whose size was somewhere between the sizes of Mercury and Jupiter impacted the Sun. Would such an event change local stellar activity sufficiently enough and for long enough ...
- 4,873
23
votes
8
answers
4k
views
Creating a dark world - How can I not completely handwave the dark cloudy atmosphere
Primary question
What is going on with the atmosphere that the world is so gloomy and dark?
Information
I have had a low-magic fantasy world I have been wanting to solidify for a while now but ...
- 854
23
votes
9
answers
3k
views
Is there any feasible way to inhabit the sun?
Is there any feasible way to create a long-term sustainable habitat on the sun?
My target region for habitation is the temperature minimum at the bottom of the solar atmosphere. Metals would have to ...
- 46k
22
votes
5
answers
6k
views
Are tropical fjords possible?
I'm currently working on two connected continents for the world I'm building. They've created a convergent boundary where they meet, which has given rise to an east-west mountain range, in addition to ...
- 98.8k
22
votes
1
answer
3k
views
Tool to simulate climate & weather effects
I am looking for a tool that can be used to create worlds with a realistic (= physically plausible) climate and surface given general terrain shape, or can at least assist in such a task.
My ideal ...
21
votes
4
answers
7k
views
Is a very tall mountain in the middle of a desert hot and dry?
Climate is not my priority because I prefer to develop the culture and the languages. However, climate has a strong influence in the culture, so I need to know the basics.
So, I have a country ...
- 321
21
votes
9
answers
3k
views
Polar Heat, Equatorial Cold - Climatic Effects of Inverted Global Temperatures
How does inverting global temperatures affect climate? Here exists a fantasy world similar to earth in all important ways. Except, however, that global temperatures have been flipped; it is coldest ...
user20787
20
votes
16
answers
3k
views
What would cause the land to "rise" in a future, post-apocalyptic world?
We are in the future in northern North America (U.S or Canada). The land has "risen" (or more accurately, filled in) with several hundred feet of earth and sand and silt so that a modern city will ...
- 351
20
votes
6
answers
4k
views
Is there a man-made or natural event that can cause an abrupt climate change within hours/a day?
Meaning, cause a seemingly normal winter to suddenly take a turn within hours or a day/two into a completely frozen territory? From what I've read, abrupt climate change happens from ocean currents. ...
- 1,315
19
votes
14
answers
6k
views
How plausible is a 'tilted axis' planet with a "south pole" constantly facing toward its star?
The basic concept of this planet is that, the planet has a tilted axis (you probably guessed that already) which results in the South Pole constantly facing towards the sun. This would result in the ...
- 297
19
votes
9
answers
5k
views
Does ice have to be on both poles?
If an Earth-like planet has ice, does the ice have to be on both poles? For example, could a planet have ice on its south pole but not on the north pole, year-round?
- 191
19
votes
6
answers
3k
views
I want ten Earth-years long day on my planet. Can I have it?
I need ten Earth years long day-night cycle on my planet.
Hemera is a world I am creating as a setting for my story. Name comes from Greek deity - personification of Day. Needs of storytelling have ...
- 616
19
votes
12
answers
4k
views
Could people survive intense global warming?
Suppose the Earth entered a period of intense global warming, say by 50° Fahrenheit (28° Celsius), and then levelled off at the new, higher, temperature. Obviously, anywhere near the equator ...
- 1,347
19
votes
2
answers
5k
views
Climate or weather simulation - free tools
Are there any free living or discontinued tools that can simulate climate or weather?
BYOE and Monash are only online web climate simulation tools.
Some tools I tried:
ClimaSim is only free climate ...
- 323
18
votes
8
answers
3k
views
Is it possible for a planet to have the same seasons in both hemispheres?
Our spherical planet has two hemispheres divided at the equator. Those living in the north hemisphere experience the opposite season as those living in the south hemisphere at any given time of year. ...
- 221
18
votes
7
answers
3k
views
How short can Milankovitch Cycles be on a world with a stable orbit?
Okay so there's a project I've been thinking about for a long time wherein humans colonise a world where the climate appears warm and benign only to discover that the local climate oscillates from ...
- 44.7k
18
votes
7
answers
3k
views
How to keep a town in the 1960s mostly isolated?
So, the lead up to the story is that a skinwalker drags injured people into the deep forest and nails them to trees before summoning a demon into each of them, leaving them there as parasites who ...
- 589
18
votes
2
answers
616
views
What would be the immediate climatic effects of having a continent appear out of nowhere?
I am writing a story where a freak magical accident causes a fully-formed landmass to pop into existence like it was there all along.
For the purposes of this question, let's assume:
the continent ...
user10933
17
votes
11
answers
5k
views
Passive Cooling Techniques for Apartment Buildings
Okay, so I'm building a world with an empire originally based out of an arid/semi-arid (Sahel type) ecoregion. As the empire expands, it will eventually shift its capital to a more temperate climate, ...
17
votes
9
answers
4k
views
Is there any realistic explanation for Earth-like climate on a Sun-sized planet?
I know that Sun-sized planets are impossible in our universe, please, bear with me.
Eastern high fantasy (xianxia) features worlds that span millions of kilometres. For example, descriptions of ...
- 6,645
17
votes
6
answers
3k
views
Bringing Hot and Cold climates together
I'm building a map for a tabletop RPG (Pathfinder specifically), the aim of which is that my players will be trekking around and visiting interesting places. As part of that, I'd love to portray a ...
- 7,495
17
votes
5
answers
5k
views
If Earth was tidally locked to the sun, where on the surface would the climate be mildest or most hospitable?
This is specifically about the climate, and where on the planet it would be mildest.
Imagine Earth, rotating at the usual distance from the sun. Except, it is tidally locked to the sun; a so-called "...
- 1,251
17
votes
6
answers
3k
views
Clothing against the wind
My people live in a tidally locked planet with very strong winds from the night side to the day side. Normally these winds are 50-70 km/h (around 30-45 mph) but they can easily reach 100-120 km/h (...
- 1,097
16
votes
19
answers
6k
views
Why would a modern city with a warm climate have a skyway system?
Skyway systems are predominately found in cities with cold climates, like the Minneapolis Skyway System:
But why would a city with a warm climate have a skyway system when it is not necessary for ...
- 4,282
16
votes
3
answers
6k
views
Could we still live if Earth's spin speed slowed down by 90%?
I am working on a project (The Longest Day), and I'm sure some people here have the necessary knowledge to give me some more usefull info.
OK, here it is:
Lets say that Earth's spinning speed ...
- 1,560
16
votes
5
answers
3k
views
How could constant or near-constant rain in an area be possible?
What would cause an area to get continuous rainfall (a la Blade Runner), and what implications would that have for other parts of the world?
Ideally I'd like to hear about both natural conditions ...
- 261
15
votes
11
answers
4k
views
At great altitude, what conditions are needed to support a human community?
In my part of this (Earth-like) world, there is a stable community of completely isolated pre-industrial humans, numbering perhaps 1,800.
They live at an altitude of (at least) 25,000 feet (7620 ...
- 23.8k
15
votes
6
answers
4k
views
Are snow caps plausible for a mountain range in an extremely large desert?
I have a very large desert, approximately 15 000 km across from west to east (the north-south distance is around 4 000 km, although it's at a bit of an angle). The desert is bounded at one edge by a ...
- 185
15
votes
5
answers
3k
views
Could a forest grow near a salt flat?
In my world there's a salt flat like Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia (of different size if need be)
(source)
Is there a chance a medium- to large-sized forest could have grown naturally in the immediate ...
- 4,647