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
> inspired by Kim Stanley Robinson's "Red Mars" trilogy; at one point
they
> have a near-global sandstorm that lasts about five Terran years, so I
> thought, "What if terraforming resources had been cut just after that
> point, so that monster storms became a regular feature, not just a
bug?"
> (In the novel the resources are there, so the terraformed Mars
stabilizes
> again...)

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

Beth