What would pressure belts look like on a world with continuous land?

I need maps of climates and prevailing winds for my desert-dominant world. It has one continent stretching in a band around the tropics and into the subtropics, making up about half the planet's surface. There are two polar seas. The planet has a 20 degree axial tilt, Earth-like atmosphere, is slightly smaller than earth, and spins a little faster (not quite a 20 hour day).

Using Climate Cookbook, Mark Rosenfelder's PCK, and Google, I've been researching the patterns that govern wind and climate in our world. I think I have a very basic understanding of the way air moves, the Coriolis effect, seasonal pressure differences over land and sea, and earth's pressure belts. I'm ready to draw them all in on my map. But alas, the only reference I have is Earth, and Earth's continents are broken up by major ocean. These seem to scramble up what would otherwise be neat little belts of pressure and turn them into swirling pressure cells.

Now, what is likely to happen on a planet with a continuous strip of land around the middle? The north and south shores of my continent are currently dancing around the lines of my planet's subtropical convergence zones. Will I have low pressure cells over the gulfs in winter and the peninsulas in summer, or will the more uniform nature of the land give rise to an unbroken pressure belt over land and sea alike?

In short, will more consistent land mean that the areas of pressure will also be consistent: a few, large, unbroken strips as opposed to many jumbled patches like on Earth? Currently my maps (summer and winter versions) show quite a few pressure cells neatly arranged around their respective belts, but I'm second-guessing myself.

posted over 7 years ago

RLuebke‭

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