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I'm going to take one of your examples here: the desert planet. Is that realistic and plausible? It turns out that it is realistic. Wikipedia describes a desert thusly: A desert is a barren area...
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#1: Post edited
by
Canina
·
2020-07-07T14:02:54Z (almost 4 years ago)
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<p>I'm going to take one of your examples here: the <strong>desert planet.</strong> Is <em>that</em> realistic and plausible?</p><p><strong>It turns out that it is realistic.</strong> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert">Wikipedia describes a desert</a> thusly:</p><blockquote><p>A desert is a barren area of land where little precipitation occurs and consequently living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to the processes of denudation.<br>...<br>Deserts are formed by weathering processes as large variations in temperature between day and night put strains on the rocks which consequently break in pieces.</p></blockquote><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_climate">Desert climate</a> is described as:</p><blockquote><p>Desert climate (in the Köppen climate classification BWh and BWk, sometimes also BWn), also known as an arid climate, is a climate that does not meet the criteria to be classified as a polar climate, and in which precipitation is too low to sustain any vegetation at all, or at most a very scanty shrub.</p></blockquote><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_climate">Polar climate</a> is defined primarily by the lack of warm summers:</p><blockquote><p>Every month in a polar climate has an average temperature of less than 10 °C (50 °F).</p></blockquote><p>It turns out that <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_%28planet%29#Climate">the above description of desert climate sounds like a pretty decent description of Mars' climate</a>. Mars' large orbital difference between perihelion and aphelion creates constant thermal stress, which the thin atmosphere does little to reduce; temperature swings of nearly 200 Kelvin are seen between the extremes on the surface and between summer and winter, whereas summer daytime temperatures of around <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_%28planet%29#Climate">35°C have been measured</a>. Mars also shows a fairly large difference between daytime and nighttime temperatures, which is a property typical of desert areas, but I cannot seem to find any specific figures at the moment.</p>
- <p>I'm going to take one of your examples here: the <strong>desert planet.</strong> Is <em>that</em> realistic and plausible?</p>
- <p><strong>It turns out that it is realistic.</strong> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert">Wikipedia describes a desert</a> thusly:</p>
- <blockquote>
- <p>A desert is a barren area of land where little precipitation occurs and consequently living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to the processes of denudation.<br>
- ...<br>
- Deserts are formed by weathering processes as large variations in temperature between day and night put strains on the rocks which consequently break in pieces.</p>
- </blockquote>
- <p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_climate">Desert climate</a> is described as:</p>
- <blockquote>
- <p>Desert climate (in the Köppen climate classification BWh and BWk, sometimes also BWn), also known as an arid climate, is a climate that does not meet the criteria to be classified as a polar climate, and in which precipitation is too low to sustain any vegetation at all, or at most a very scanty shrub.</p>
- </blockquote>
- <p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_climate">Polar climate</a> is defined primarily by the lack of warm summers:</p>
- <blockquote>
- <p>Every month in a polar climate has an average temperature of less than 10 °C (50 °F).</p>
- </blockquote>
- <p>It turns out that <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_%28planet%29#Climate">the above description of desert climate sounds like a pretty decent description of Mars' climate</a>. Mars' large orbital difference between perihelion and aphelion creates constant thermal stress, which the thin atmosphere does little to reduce; temperature swings of nearly 200 Kelvin are seen between the extremes on the surface and between summer and winter, whereas summer daytime temperatures of around <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_%28planet%29#Climate">35°C have been measured</a>. Mars also shows a fairly large difference between daytime and nighttime temperatures, which is a property typical of desert areas, but I cannot seem to find any specific figures at the moment.</p>