Spherus Magna Climate Question

[fishers64]

What kind of orbit are we looking at for the planet of Spherus Magna? I garner that it would have to be different, because SM does not appear to have polar ice caps, instead having an ocean and a tropical rain forest. Greg confirmed the existence of seasons on Spherus Magna,but there isn't the climate and temperature variations like on earth. How does that work?

[Dralcax]

Seasons mean the planet sits slightly askew. Since climate variation is caused by latitudinal (?) changes in received sunlight, I theorize that Spherus Magna must orbit a binary or triple star system so that different stars can warm different latitudes, Or the atmosphere's greenhouse effects retains enough heat so that heat is evenly distributed, except maybe the equator.

Edited March 24, 2012 by Chaos Dralcax

[Paleo]

Spherus Magna is probably slightly closer to Solis Magna, but still in the star system's "Goldylocks Zone". It could also have seasonal changes, but they might not be as drastic if the angle of obliquity is less than our own, which is 23.5º. Hope that answers your question.

[Exo-Kahgarak]

1. Did Greg say that there aren't any climate variations or did he just say that there aren't any polar icecaps? If SM is warm enough, it might just not be able to sustain frozen water year-round even at the poles.2. If there actually aren't climate variations, the only plausible explanation is a large greenhouse effect which would both increase the temperature and decrease temperature variation between climates.

[Toa of Italy]

I don't think Spherus Magna's climate is that different from ours and neither is the orbit. First of all, we have to remember that most comic and movie images aren't fully canonical, as they often contradict each other due to artistic licence. And there hasn't been an actual map of the planet.I think the Northern Frost could be considered some kind of polar ice cap. As for a corresponding southern ice cap, I can say that we actually don't know whether there is one or not.The Bara Magna desert also appears to be located in the tropical regions, much like our own deserts.Granted, Bota Magna does seems a bit north to be a tropical forest. But we also have to remember that Spherus Magna suffered the Shattering, which probably altered the climate consistently. Perhaps on the original Spherus Magna the desert was located close to the southern tropic, while the forest extended from the north to the equator. When the planet shattered, the forest part that was on the Bara Magna fragment suffered desertification, while on Bota Magna the tropical vegetation progressively spread to the north as well.To be honest I don't know where you got the information that there is no climate change as seasons pass on Spherus Magna, so I can't comment on that.And lastly, we have to remember that even in the real world, we only know of one certainly habitable planet, Earth. We don't actually know how another habitable planet might present itself: there are hundreds of factors that determine our climate that we haven't determined yet, so we can't really say that a planet like Spherus Magna has an impossible climate.

[bonesiii]

I kinda forgot to include this in the EP-core theory I made recently, but I've been running on the theory that the EP-modified rock, in addition to gravity effects, somehow evens out global temperatures. I treat Bota Magna as the orbital north pole and Aqua Magna as the orbital south pole, both without cold effects. Not sure if the positioning is canon, though it makes canon sense, but the coldening does seem to be nulled canonically somehow.

[Jean Valjean]

If it doesn't have a tilt, its orbit could be a pronounced elipse.I don't have a good enough idea of what it's like on Bara Magna to fully comment on this. To add to the confusion, the island of Mata Nui had several distinct climates all in a small area, including an icey area next to a tropical area, although that's a bit justified, since there was a mountain range on that side of the mountain.One thought that occurs to me, however, is how you define "season". Perhaps the weather doesn't necessarily change on Bara Magna, since there's not enough water for precipitation, although the temperature of the air does. So therefore, there are times of the year where it's hot out and times of the year where it's not so hot out. Also considering that just because there can't be precipitation, that doesn't mean that there can't be weather. Pockets of hot air lead to low barometric pressures, which leads to wind. So basically wind-storms are possible. Combine all this this with the strong tidal pull of the moons, and you have a climate that's overall consistent but nevertheless interesting underneath the hood.Your Honor,Tyrannosaurus Kraggh