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Byron

Member

From: Florida, USA

Registered: 2002-05-16

Posts: 844

Re: Martian weather after terraformation

Just something else I've just thought of...weather on a terraformed Mars.  Assuming that a future Martian civilization is able terraform Mars "all the way," with oceans, thick atmosphere, etc, I wonder how the lower gravity and consequently "taller" atmosphere would affect the weather.  Would it rain less, as water droplets hang around in the clouds without Earth-like gravity to make it fall to the surface?  Would wind speeds be higher because of the low gravity?  I see the possibility of some monster-sized hailstones falling out of Martain thunderstorms, as the low gee would allow balls of ice to grow very large before they actually fell to the ground.

I imagine snow would be a big deal on Mars, because of the lower average temperature (unless Shaun gets his way!..lol  )  Skiing anyone??  Even the double diamond slopes would be easy in the low gee..;).

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Aetius

Member

From: New England USA

Registered: 2002-01-20

Posts: 173

Re: Martian weather after terraformation

Kim Stanley Robinson wrote that the downslope winds would be incredibly strong, due to the great difference in elevation between nearby areas.

Palomar

Member

From: USA

Registered: 2002-05-30

Posts: 9,734

Re: Martian weather after terraformation

Just something else I've just thought of...weather on a terraformed Mars.

*I've been thinking of just the opposite...weather on the non-terraformed Mars, i.e. what the astronauts and earliest settlers/colonists will have to deal with.  Mars has wind, dust storms, and dust devils...as far as I'm aware, at this point in time, that's about it [besides variations in temperature].

In other words, I'm thinking of how MONOTONOUS the lack of weather [as we Earthlings are accustomed to it] might be. 

As a personal example, when I moved from my native Midwest to southern New Mexico, I knew the weather would be very different, and I underestimated the impact it would have on me.  I didn't move here because of the weather, but because I liked the region much better than the Midwest.  I quickly came to greatly miss long afternoon thundershowers in particular, not to mention other variations in weather besides just warm-and-sunny, warm-and-sunny month after month.  I missed the changes of the seasons, as I was accustomed to knowing them in Iowa and Nebraska.  It took me 3 years of living in southern NM before I began to get a sense of the changing of summer into autumn and winter into spring...mostly because it seemed to me, those first 3 years, that there was only summer and winter here -- summer was intense, winter was mild, and there seemed to be no autumn and spring.  That was difficult to get used to.  I adjusted, of course, and gradually began to be aware of changes in the desert which herald autumn and spring.

I think lack of weather for the earliest people there is going to be a challenge, frankly.  They'll never be lulled to sleep by the gentle patter of rain, for one; I haven't been for a long time, either. 

--Cindy

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We all know [i]those[/i] Venusians: Doing their hair in shock waves, smoking electrical coronas, wearing Van Allen belts and resting their tiny elbows on a Geiger counter...

--John Sladek (The New Apocrypha)

Byron

Member

From: Florida, USA

Registered: 2002-05-16

Posts: 844

Re: Martian weather after terraformation

*I've been thinking of just the opposite...weather on the non-terraformed Mars, i.e. what the astronauts and earliest settlers/colonists will have to deal with.  Mars has wind, dust storms, and dust devils...as far as I'm aware, at this point in time, that's about it [besides variations in temperature].

In other words, I'm thinking of how MONOTONOUS the lack of weather [as we Earthlings are accustomed to it] might be.

You've got a good point there.  Mars as it is now does have very little weather compared to Earth, except for the occassional continent-sized dust storm.  The weather would indeed be very monotonous...mostly clear and very cold about 95% of the time..lol.

I live in Florida, and I do miss the seasons as well...we have summer, summer, and a short period when it resembles spring during the "winter" months...so I certainly know the feeling of samness in the weather...but at least we get rainstorms, something I would miss greatly if I lived on Mars.  However, the thing about being on Mars in the early days is the fact one will not be able to enjoy the outdoors like we can here on Earth...you'd never feel the wind in your hair, the natural smells of the outdoors, etc..to me, that would be the most difficult aspect of living on Mars. 

Another point:  I'm quite disappointed in the "standard" design of the prototype hab to be used for the Martian astronants...the windows on that thing are the size of portholes on an old-fashioned ocean liner.  I think they should have at least one expansive plate-glass window for the crew's enjoyment (1 meter by 2, maybe?), so they can at least see the beauty of the outdoors from inside the hab..I know this would be an engineer's nightmare, but being in touch with the Martian outdoors will be an important part of crew morale...more than the "experts" are willing to admit, IMHO...

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Mars_B4_Moon

Member

Registered: 2006-03-23

Posts: 9,267

Re: Martian weather after terraformation

an older topic worth a bump perhaps

Still would be classed as a cold planet maybe

Finland's eSled Shows the World What Years of Snowmobile R&D in the Arctic Can Yield
https://www.autoevolution.com/news/finl … 30831.html