| rdfs:comment
| - The planet Vexillium sits in a vacuum with a thin atmosphere of its own slowly baking under the glare of Sol, Urun, the sun. As sunlight approaches the planet in parallel lines, the middle surfaces of the Vexillium sphere will receive far more intense sunlight than the poles. Image:Vex climate 00.gif Reduce, for a moment, the three dimensions of Vexillium to two, a circle. The same amount of sunlight hits the circle at Area A as hits Area B, yet Area A is smaller (or shorter on our two dimensional planet) than Area B.
* Sorry, why do clouds only form over humid, low pressure places?
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| abstract
| - The planet Vexillium sits in a vacuum with a thin atmosphere of its own slowly baking under the glare of Sol, Urun, the sun. As sunlight approaches the planet in parallel lines, the middle surfaces of the Vexillium sphere will receive far more intense sunlight than the poles. Image:Vex climate 00.gif Reduce, for a moment, the three dimensions of Vexillium to two, a circle. The same amount of sunlight hits the circle at Area A as hits Area B, yet Area A is smaller (or shorter on our two dimensional planet) than Area B. Therefore, the light intensity at the equatorial regions is far higher than at any other latitude on the planet. This is most obvious at the poles at the equinoxes, when the planet is facing the sun "straight-on". The light at the poles is grey and very dull, whereas at the equator it is very intense and bright. And hot. For if the light intensity is higher, then the heat intensity is also higher, and the planet will inevitably be hotter at the equator than at the poles, which we know as fact. We already know that hot air rises. Therefore, the heated air at the equator will rise. And because it is rising, there will be less air on the surface of the earth at the equator, and therefore, less air pressure (pressure just being a measure of the number of air molecules per volume). At the same time, cold air is more dense, and since it will be much colder at the poles, the air there will be a much higher pressure. Image:Vex climate 01.gif Simply put, high pressure air will attempt to reach low pressure regions, and a cycle of air flows develops on the planet. More completely, since there will always be air on the surface of the equator being heated, there will be a steady supply of air rising. Therefore, the air that has already risen must move on, and it does: toward the poles. When it reaches the poles, the air is colder, and our heated air will sink to the ground. And because the air is sinking, it will create an area of high pressure over the poles. The air will then move along the surface, sucked into the low pressure zone around the equator. Since the air at the surface of the planet is wetter than high, high, high in the upper reaches of the atmosphere, the warmer air dropping down on the poles will be dry, while the air coming into the low pressure equator will be moist, and thus humid. Now, where there is rising humid air, water in the air will condense as the air pressure decreases at higher altitudes. And condensed air is clouds. Conversely, descending dry air will create no clouds. This is why the polar regions are cold, dry and cloudless, while the equator is hot, humid and frequently cloudy. It is also why high-pressure regions are associated with sunny weather, whereas low-pressure regions are cloudy and stormy.
* Sorry, why do clouds only form over humid, low pressure places?
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![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)