From: Beth Fulton <beth.fulton@m...>
Date: Mon, 6 Dec 2004 09:24:05 +1100
Subject: RE: [FH] Mars (sorry forgot 1st time)
G'day, I had similar thoughts regarding Mars, though I guess with a wider differential, some very high tech "well behaved areas" and other more frontier areas (forpeople intopeace and quiet) and then some rough seedy areas - bit like Earth in some respects there I guess ;) > The half-arsed terraforming - "just enough to cause trouble" - was I agree that terraforming probably won't be complete by late 2100s / early 2200s, but from my understanding of atmospheric dynamics I doubt sand storms would be a permanent feature by that point (assuming terraformign began say in 2030s - 2050s) or so. Positive feedback from increasing thaw areas and rising humidity (and even some of the potential atmospheric mixtures) would mean the fine dust clumps and falls out (eventually). Some quick calculations suggest that high wind stress areas (canyon funnels etc) would still be susceptible to storms but immense storms like in Red Mars are extrememly unlikely by that point. The storms would remain good gaming background (at least in some areas) though even at full strength the winds involved probably aren't going to trouble determined inidivudals - depending on Mars atmospheric density wind speeds that would rate as off the scale on Earth (force 12+) would be felt as anything from a "moderate breeze" to a "near gale" but probably not anything more. Cheers