Dome, Dome on the Range

David Stockhoff · 13 Jan 2011, 15:56 · from 2011-January.txt.gz

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From: dstockhoff at verizon.net (David Stockhoff)
Date: Thu, 13 Jan 2011 10:56:57 -0500
Subject: (urth) Dome, Dome on the Range
In-Reply-To: <4D2F1B2B.1010702 at io.com>
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	<4D2F1B2B.1010702 at io.com>
Message-ID: <4D2F20C9.9030809 at verizon.net>

On 1/13/2011 10:32 AM, Jeff Wilson wrote:
> On 1/13/2011 6:04 AM, David Stockhoff wrote:
>> It suddenly occurs to me that though Severian sees cloud and rain in
>> front of Lune, he never mentions clouds on the face of Lune.
>
> heh heh heh! Just what you would expect in my many-dome scenario.
>
>> Would lunar clouds just blend into the green at that distance? Do Earth
>> clouds only stand out against our blue ocean, which Lune would never
>> have enough water to possess?
>
> I'm not ready to agree that the moon could never posses large bodies 
> of standing water; Geoff Landis' article doesn't include crunchable 
> numbers for his watered-moon scenario, but I've consulted with Geoff 
> numerous times previous on similarly speculative scenarios and his 
> definite answers have always turned out to be well supported.
>
> That said, earthly clouds; whiteness stands out over land and sea thusly:
>
>     http://reallyhardsums.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/599px-the_earth_seen_from_apollo_17.jpg?w=350&h=350 
>
>
>     http://preview.tinyurl.com/4pva64g
>
> while lunar features as "small" as the 85-km crater Tycho and its rays 
> are visible from earth by people with good eyesight, so the cloud 
> banks associated with lunar weather fronts ought to be visible from 
> the earth by most people some of the time and by some people most all 
> the time, even without use of instruments.
>
But that photo of Earth wasn't from the Moon. Also, it tends to 
emphasize the South Pole, but yes, it's clear that cloud masses stand 
out over land. This is a point in favor of domes, which might mist over 
but I can't imagine them turning white unless there is seasonal 
variation (i.e., winter).

Unless the climate of the entire Moon is equatorial and all weather 
local (i.e., daily showers at 4:00 rather than large low-pressure 
systems) because of a lack of Earthlike "poles" (Severian does not note 
Lune's non-green poles, nor ice caps) and no jet streams, a wet Moon 
ought to have fronts and therefore masses of white cloud. Without fully 
understanding the effects of a non-tilted axis or small size, I can't 
parse this further. But then, I think we've already gone too far.


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