NationStates Jolt Archive

Im trying to build my RP world accurately and im haveing a little difficulty getting sources for deserts... I know they generally fall in the range 20-30Degrees Latitude, when using the axial tilt of earth, but what i want to know is can a zone in that range be fertile (life generating fertile not just crop growing), if its within 200nm of the coast and in a rain shadow of mountains?

humm... aren't most jungles in the same general... [is it latitude? paralell to the equator, anyway] ? if so that probibly answers that question.

more importantly, to be a desert, a place only needs to lack rainfall, not water.

Antarctica is mostly one big block of ice... it's also desert.

not sure if that helps or not, but hopefully it's useful :)

AFAIK deserts need to have a higher potential evaporative level (PEL) than potential precipitive level (PPL) and all (hot) deserts are in the 20-30 degree line... although thinking about it, there does seem to be a lot of rain forest in the same zones... thanks :-)

reviewing now :-)

Is that two hundred nanometers?

nautical miles (being a nm is a %age of the earths arc and the other possible measures arnt so accurate on a globe...

Only during the wet season.

ok that i dont get... less you are suggesting that nm is not a valid measure on non water surfaces... im using it for convieniance.(sp?)

personally, I'd just use kilometers... thousands of meters, the length of a meter being defined as a specific fraction of the distance between the equator and the north poll. [theoreticaly following the curvature of the earth, but not variations in height and slope, but I'm not sure]

anywho, what RP are you using this world for? I'm curious :)

Im trying to build my RP world accurately and im haveing a little difficulty getting sources for deserts... I know they generally fall in the range 20-30Degrees Latitude, when using the axial tilt of earth, but what i want to know is can a zone in that range be fertile (life generating fertile not just crop growing), if its within 200nm of the coast and in a rain shadow of mountains?

Well, if it's in the rain shadow that means it's not getting much water. So it'll be a dry region. At that latitude it'll be pretty warm too. So, desert, or scrub forest/chapparal like we got here in california. Technically even deserts generate life, but if you mean lush biospheres with lots of plants and many big animals -nah.

Its for my TTRP (D20 varient)

just noticed that flaw - by rainshadow i meant the opposite :-( Its got the prevailing winds off the coast then up into mountains... the others side is definantly in a rain shadow (every indicator needed for deserts)

More talking from a US point of view if the Appachian Mnts were the height of the Andes what sort of climate would the East Coast have in the south? (carolinas, georgia etc)

Edit:
distance from the coast to these mountains is 1963.5km

The atacama is a coastal desert at tempertate latitudes, and the driest place in the world.

Its for my TTRP (D20 varient)

just noticed that flaw - by rainshadow i meant the opposite :-( Its got the prevailing winds off the coast then up into mountains... the others side is definantly in a rain shadow (every indicator needed for deserts)

More talking from a US point of view if the Appachian Mnts were the height of the Andes what sort of climate would the East Coast have in the south? (carolinas, georgia etc)

Edit:
distance from the coast to these mountains is 1963.5km

I've gotta leave for lunch, so I don't have time for a full answer, but leafing through my old college Physical Geography textbook, and just on what I remember, no, it shouldn't have a significant effect.

Its for my TTRP (D20 varient)

just noticed that flaw - by rainshadow i meant the opposite :-( Its got the prevailing winds off the coast then up into mountains... the others side is definantly in a rain shadow (every indicator needed for deserts)

More talking from a US point of view if the Appachian Mnts were the height of the Andes what sort of climate would the East Coast have in the south? (carolinas, georgia etc)

Edit:
distance from the coast to these mountains is 1963.5km

Well, if the mountains are higher, the land is higher, that means it's effectively colder, so in your example the southern East Coast would be more like the northeast coast is. Like Maine and thereabouts.