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Need help creating a sci-fi world: Calling all geologists and planetologists!
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<blockquote data-quote="s/LaSH" data-source="post: 1560232" data-attributes="member: 6929"><p>Large bodies of water will evaporate, yes. The water will stay suspended in the air, more or less. If the air stays low, it'll probably form dew and mists and such and create a fairly nice region. If it rises, the air's capacity to hold water drops, which is why clouds happen above the ground - that's the pressure threshold for water retention, where it moves from suspension to tiny droplets, and if the droplets collide enough, it forms rain.</p><p></p><p>A series of hills making the air go up and down could shake the water out of the air; and a mountain range could (should) be higher than the droplet point, so little water makes it past. Basically, rough terrain stops water.</p><p></p><p>Bear in mind that even the harshest desert of our world occasionally gets rain, once every few years or decades. Flash floods and narrow, deep culverts through hard-packed desert soil are typical features. (Dune country, obviously, won't retain these flood marks long.)</p><p></p><p>Salt will build up in bodies of water with no great circulation or way out. Look at the Dead Sea. The process of evaporation will concentrate minerals that have washed into a body of water, and the minerals have nowhere to go. Bear in mind, however, that before the cataclysmic water loss, there will have been a great deal more water on the world, and, without water erosion (still with sand and wind erosion, but water's the biggest factor), the empty riverflats, canyons, and maybe even continental shelves will be far more visible than before.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Deserts at night do get cold, and I guess humidity would be the dominant factor. Earth (rocks and sand, in the case of a desert) isn't a great conductor; the heat it picks up in the day spits back out the moment the sun goes down, and there's no cloud cover or water-saturated air to retain that heat. I don't have figures on me, but I think it gets cold enough to see your breath mist up. See if you can find some weather reports online.</p><p></p><p>Also bear in mind that deserts aren't necessarily hot during the day - they're just waterless places where nothing can grow, because of the aforementioned air currents not bringing rain or because no rivers run through it. A high-altitude or non-equatorial desert could be very cold even at midday, if the wind was up (wind is the most important chill factor; you can sunbathe in a bikini in Antarctica if the wind is low).</p><p></p><p>Water (and, I believe, water-filled organic entities like the tree) regulates temperature, so coastal regions are likely to be more moderate than desert regions. Not necessarily temperate; the latitude is more important here, because it determines how much sunlight the water can soak up.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>There, hope some of that's useful... meteorology was my forte at flight school, even if I have forgotten chunks of it.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="s/LaSH, post: 1560232, member: 6929"] Large bodies of water will evaporate, yes. The water will stay suspended in the air, more or less. If the air stays low, it'll probably form dew and mists and such and create a fairly nice region. If it rises, the air's capacity to hold water drops, which is why clouds happen above the ground - that's the pressure threshold for water retention, where it moves from suspension to tiny droplets, and if the droplets collide enough, it forms rain. A series of hills making the air go up and down could shake the water out of the air; and a mountain range could (should) be higher than the droplet point, so little water makes it past. Basically, rough terrain stops water. Bear in mind that even the harshest desert of our world occasionally gets rain, once every few years or decades. Flash floods and narrow, deep culverts through hard-packed desert soil are typical features. (Dune country, obviously, won't retain these flood marks long.) Salt will build up in bodies of water with no great circulation or way out. Look at the Dead Sea. The process of evaporation will concentrate minerals that have washed into a body of water, and the minerals have nowhere to go. Bear in mind, however, that before the cataclysmic water loss, there will have been a great deal more water on the world, and, without water erosion (still with sand and wind erosion, but water's the biggest factor), the empty riverflats, canyons, and maybe even continental shelves will be far more visible than before. Deserts at night do get cold, and I guess humidity would be the dominant factor. Earth (rocks and sand, in the case of a desert) isn't a great conductor; the heat it picks up in the day spits back out the moment the sun goes down, and there's no cloud cover or water-saturated air to retain that heat. I don't have figures on me, but I think it gets cold enough to see your breath mist up. See if you can find some weather reports online. Also bear in mind that deserts aren't necessarily hot during the day - they're just waterless places where nothing can grow, because of the aforementioned air currents not bringing rain or because no rivers run through it. A high-altitude or non-equatorial desert could be very cold even at midday, if the wind was up (wind is the most important chill factor; you can sunbathe in a bikini in Antarctica if the wind is low). Water (and, I believe, water-filled organic entities like the tree) regulates temperature, so coastal regions are likely to be more moderate than desert regions. Not necessarily temperate; the latitude is more important here, because it determines how much sunlight the water can soak up. There, hope some of that's useful... meteorology was my forte at flight school, even if I have forgotten chunks of it. [/QUOTE]
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