The Köppen–Geiger climate classification made simpler (I hope so)

[Charerg]

Cfc: I could be wrong, but I think the climate that shows up in the north is actually Cfc. At least I don't see what else it could be. Anyway, for clarity I marked the climates on your version of the map:



Anapar: I think the high pressure center probably is located west of the continent only during southern winter (July), and it would retreat into the channel between Akanrias and Nomune during the southern summer (January). Of course, there's always some guesswork involved, but I think this model is reasonable. That said, the recent versions aren't too far off, it just needs the BS areas added in.

[Azélor]

Yes it make sense. But then, most of this Cfc is actually Cfb.

And I have to admit that I am surprised by the dryness of some areas: the inland sea and the western northern continent (on the eastern side).

The inland sea: these are mountains which mean more precipitation and lower temperatures. Yet, it is really dry.

The other continent, even if most of it turns into a steppe, I would have expected that it would be more humid.


anyway, the results: I added the steppes this time.

[mbartelsm]

I spotted a couple of bugs (or miss-uses) of the script. The first is that during the "climate 1" script it tries to select a couple of copied layers, the thing is that you Ps seems to be in french so the layers are named with the word "copie" while my Ps generates them with the word "copy".

The other problem is that the script doesn't seem to be selecting my level 1 precipitations properly, I tried leaving them transparent and with pure black, it doesn't work. In the end those areas are just left without processing and end up being transparent (no climates outputted)

[Azélor]

I fixed the script and it should fix both problems. I was aware of the language issue and I think that naming a layer as soon as it is duplicated should solver the problem. If not well yes, copie is copy, just select it and continue the script. It's because I managed to record the script without noticing that this layer was not properly named.

And sure, you could do a .pdf once it's finished, which should be soon. I edited the first message to include links to all the steps.

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Now on the biomes and the equivalent climates: a simplified version of this http://www.cartographersguild.com/at...1&d=1423197614
Right now, there are 13 different biomes but I feel that some of redundant.

Alpine is a meta climate and can include all of them. It's used for practical reason since it's not possible to indicate all the climates in some mountainous areas.

Ice: EF
Tundra: ET
Boreal forest (mostly pine trees) : Dd, Dc
Temperate: Cfb, Cfc, Dwa, Dfa, Dfb, Dwb, Cwc?
Subtropical forest: Cfa, Cwa, Cwb (have a winter but temperature usually stick above 0)
Mediterranean: Csa, Csb, Csc?, Dsa, Dsb (dry summer)
Tropical rainforest: Af, Am (tropical have a small temperature variation over the year)
Tropical dry forest: As, Aw

Savanna: hot steppes (BSh) (the dry season is normally in winter but I'm not sure if it's really different form the Mediterranean biome, both should have a forest with open canopies)
Grassland: BSk and BSh as a transition between the Savanna and the desert climate.
Scrubland: a desert with some vegetation like cacti.

Desert: a desert devoid of vegetation.

[Charerg]

There's a slight typo in the biome reference file, you refer to "Af" climate in Tropical dry forest and Monsoonal forest sections, I assume the reference should be Aw?

Btw, when you ran the script last time, did you use the updated temperature maps? Because it looks like Cfc still shows up, and the northern climates seem largely unchanged in general. And I'm pretty sure I "rigged" the temperature maps in such a way that the Cfc climates should have disappeared (the tundra border should be slightly different too).

In any case, if you don't mind running the script another time, I suppose it might be worth modifying the precipitation maps a bit further to see if I can make those Aw climates turn up. I guess there still needs to be more contrast between July and January precipitations. Also, I guess the Neraduhrian summer rains need to be ramped up in order for Dwc to appear.

Actually, now that I compare the precipitation maps, it appears that "Winter 1 (transparent) + Summer 3" combo results in Dwb climate, but "Winter 0 (pink) + Summer 3" combo means Cfc instead of Cwc, even though the contrast is higher in the latter case! Looking at the precipitation maps, I can see why you did this (so Earth's climates turn up more accurately, since even Eastern Siberia is Dfc), but it's still a bit weird (to my logic, anyway).

Edit: Ok, here are the precipitation maps. Hopefully, this time they're truly "final"! The main difference is that the tropical regions now have a much more pronounced dry season than previously, so Af should be confined to a more realistic area. Also, remember to use the updated temperature maps (in post #113).

[Azélor]

Yes, I fused the two biomes. Monsoon is also a dry forest because it's mostly the same thing.

No I forgot to use it and as I already explained, you can't get rid of the Cfc. You'll need to edit it manually if you want to change the Cfb,Cfc,Dfb transition.


I see that there is a problem here. The w climates should be : 0-5, 1-5, 2-5, 0-4, 1-4 and 0-3 , but not 1-3

About Siberia, we will see what the results will be but they could become Dw something. Normally, it should be Df something but since my rain model is simplistic, southern Siberia is drier than what it's supposed to be. Maybe I will change the instruction regarding the placement of the pink layer.

[Charerg]

Actually, the Cfc should be possible to remove via temperature map editing. The regions that turned into Cfc climates had "Cool" winter (Yellow) and "Mild" Summer (Peach). If one ensures that this temperature combination doesn't turn up, then Cfc climates should not appear. Anyway, what I did should replace Cfc partly with Dfb, partly with Cfb (although I left several islands as Cfc). Of course this could be done manually, but it's also possible to eliminate Cfc via temperature map changes. Also, I did change a few other areas too that I felt were in the wrong temperature category. For example, in the extreme south there is a Tundra->Dfb transition, I edited the temperature maps so there should now be a narrow band of Dfc between the tundra and the Dfb.

w climates: Ok, so the Dwb was a bit of an anomaly then. Although I guess it should still appear since I increased the summer precipitations in Neraduhr (there's now a large area of lvl 4).

Edit: Fixed my typo with the southern D climates (originally wrote "C" instead of D).

[Azélor]

Mild and cool is the only combo for Cc and even then, some Cfb also fit in it. For example, London and Reykjavik are in the same combination, one is at the lowest values possible and the other is closer to the maximum values.
For now, I prefer to let keep Cfc and add more information about it.

Ok, i did patch one color that was miscategorized but for the rest, there isn't much i can do. Else it will turn a lot of forests in America and Russia to Dwb/Dwc.


While I don't see any Cfb->tundra transition, there is some Dfb->tundra and it would be better with a Dfc in between.

[Charerg]

Yeah, I guess the dicciculty is in classification. In some areas (like the extreme north) level 3 rain would realistically probably be pretty much the maximum value outside of islands and coasts. So the scale runs effectively from 0-3 in those latitudes rather than from 0-5 like in the tropical latitudes. Close to the tundra region even 0-2 could potentially be a "w" climate, but probably not in tropical areas.

Yet the same classification needs to cover both areas. And the tropical areas are probably more significant, since Df and Dw have (broadly speaking), similar vegetation and animal life (since winter is never a growing season in the north, regardless of whether it rains or not). As such, for fantasy mapping it's perhaps a bit unnecessary to classify D climates that accurately, although I find it interesting personally.

[Azélor]

The thing is that in real life, the category 0 can have precipitations as low as 0. Literally meaning that if the precipitations in summer are greater than 0, it's going to be w something. But by using the average of 5 instead, we eliminate a bunch of them and put them in f instead.

Yes, the impact of f/s/w on D climates is somewhat less critical than with hotter climates: especially with Dc and Dd climates. Anyway, the population of the Dd in pre-industrial times would be very close to 0. The whole of Siberia had a ridiculously low population density, with most people packed on the southernmost part.


EDIT: And here is my latest version of the biomes:


I'm still undecided as to whether the scrubland should be a specific biome or not.

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Btw, have you finished with the modifications you talked about?