Ocean Current (WIP)

[inspectorjavert]

Hey all, I'm working on putting together a climate map and I'm in the opening phases I was wondering if I could get some feedback on my map of ocean currents. For the record some of the currents close their cycle beyond the borders of the current map (a cop out I know but hey...) orange currents are hot, white currents are cold and black currents are neutral. Have I done this accurately? Is it possible for there to be areas that don't have a major current nearby?

Your Obt. St

[Azélor]

What are the latitudes? Is that from the equator to the pole?

[inspectorjavert]

The line at the very bottom is the equator. The first line is the Horse latitudes and the second is the end of the Ferral cell, yeah its equator to pole The North Pole to be precise.

[acrosome]

Unless the sun rises in the west in this world you have the warm and cold currents reversed, for starters. If it does rise in the west then drive on.

However, the equatorial gyres reach as far as 45 degrees, sometimes more, and they run clockwise in the northern hemisphere on Earth. Generally, warm currents are vague, whereas cold currents tend to follow the coastline more closely. Here's a link to a very cool map of Earth's currents, to use as a guide.

So, assuming sun rising in the east, here are your equatorial gyres:



Note the equatorial countercurrent. The peninsula on the southern end of Terria is probably too far north to be a desert, despite the cold offshore current. Deserts rarely run further than 30 degrees, unless they are caused by a humongous rain shadow, like the Gobi. So, unless that, maybe no deep deserts on this map. Or, you could say that the western gyre stays cold longer, to hit that southwest coast of East Terria, in which case there may be a small desert there.

If South Terria progresses more south than 30 degrees it will probably have a big west-coast desert, like northwestern Africa, or South America. The desert in South America doesn't spread across the whole continent (and beyond) like in Africa because of the Andes blocking the way.

The really hard part is figuring out what is happening between Terria and East Terria. That straight that divides them at 30 degrees- is it shallow or deep? Because if it is shallow then the sea between the continents probably has its own currents, but if it is deep enough then the equatorial current might somehow work its way into the sea. But... there is no good equivalent on Earth, so you could make up anything remotely reasonable that you like. Also, the fact that Terria goes all the way to the north pole makes things hard to predict, there- there may not be a circumpolar current as on Earth. Well, polar currents can be hard to predict anyway, since they are often driven by salinity gradients rather than just wind...

Anyway, if the straight is shallow, here's my take:



So, that bight on the west coast of East Terria that's being hit by the moderate current will be unusually warm for it's latitude, like Europe.

Actually, the gyres reach higher latitudes on their east sides (i.e. the west side of continents), so that cold current hitting western Terria should be further north. And, if that northernmost peninsula on Terria wasn't here, here is the corrected map, with circumpolar current added:



Depending upon what the rest of the world looks like, it could be a nice, moderating current hitting the west coast of Terria, too, making it warm like Europe as well.

[inspectorjavert]

Thanks for the feedback, I would think the strait is deep as the two ocean plates that make it up are separating. I guess its about time to work on a biome map