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<blockquote data-quote="dougmander" data-source="post: 3581276" data-attributes="member: 14375">Topographically, there's nothing inherently farfetched about having seas at both poles. The problem is having temperate poles and a cold equator. It's really hard to see how a planet would be cold at the equator and hot at the poles, but here are some nearly-plausible scenarios, maybe just enough to suspend disbelief for a fantasy world:1. Volcanic hot spots at the poles that keep them warmer2. A torus of debris around the planet's equator (maybe a destroyed moon) that reduces insolation at lower latitudes but doesn't affect the polar regions3. Extremely high plateaus or mountains at the equator, like a belt encircling the planet (think 10,000 Kilimanjaros or a vast Tibetan plateau)4. The planet has an axial tilt of 90 degrees, with one pole pointed at the sun, and the other at a &quot;hot jupiter&quot; companion star. So the poles are always &quot;noon&quot;, and the equator, twilight.5. Equatorial volcanoes that constantly barf out ash into the stratosphere, circling the equator like a belt and cooling lower latitudes. Rel's suggestion for a large axial tilt would actually make each hemisphere a dark, frozen wasteland for half a year, and bathed in dazzling sunshine for half a year. Just like our own polar regions, but covering a larger area and more extreme.Go to this website for some amazing sculpted globes and maps of alternate Earths:<a href="http://www.worlddreambank.org/P/PLANETS.HTM" target="_blank">http://www.worlddreambank.org/P/PLANETS.HTM</a></blockquote>

[QUOTE="dougmander, post: 3581276, member: 14375"] Topographically, there's nothing inherently farfetched about having seas at both poles. The problem is having temperate poles and a cold equator. It's really hard to see how a planet would be cold at the equator and hot at the poles, but here are some nearly-plausible scenarios, maybe just enough to suspend disbelief for a fantasy world: 1. Volcanic hot spots at the poles that keep them warmer 2. A torus of debris around the planet's equator (maybe a destroyed moon) that reduces insolation at lower latitudes but doesn't affect the polar regions 3. Extremely high plateaus or mountains at the equator, like a belt encircling the planet (think 10,000 Kilimanjaros or a vast Tibetan plateau) 4. The planet has an axial tilt of 90 degrees, with one pole pointed at the sun, and the other at a "hot jupiter" companion star. So the poles are always "noon", and the equator, twilight. 5. Equatorial volcanoes that constantly barf out ash into the stratosphere, circling the equator like a belt and cooling lower latitudes. Rel's suggestion for a large axial tilt would actually make each hemisphere a dark, frozen wasteland for half a year, and bathed in dazzling sunshine for half a year. Just like our own polar regions, but covering a larger area and more extreme. Go to this website for some amazing sculpted globes and maps of alternate Earths: [url]http://www.worlddreambank.org/P/PLANETS.HTM[/url] [/QUOTE]

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