Wind Currents on a Fantasy World

Here's something for the physics and meteorology nerds: How can I map out air currents on a world that isn't Earth? My setting makes heavy use of airships and people would need a (mostly) reliable way to navigate the skies.

What I especially need to know is how mountains, bodies of water, and other features affect the currents. Any other information would be helpful, too, of course.

Short answer: It's kinda complicated.

Slightly longer answer: Okay, I lied: It's actually hideously complicated. If you want any simple answers...you're probably out of luck.

edited 16th Nov '14 3:09:55 PM by MattStriker

I'm not an expert on the subject, but I guess you could start by checking this article on Global wind patterns by The Other Wiki. It explains shortly the underlying mechanics and also has some nice graphs.

In the end I wouldn't worry about it too much, though, as the mechanics are indeed so complex, that you could probably get away with pretty much anything. Especially if there's some magic involved, for example the winds could be living creatures that need to be appeased in order to reach the destination safely.

edited 16th Nov '14 6:02:56 PM by Paradisesnake

Magnetic (magic?) sand painting in a globe, for a map. As they can be expected to change seasonally and randomly, you'd want something reusable and alterable. ...but that's more of a regional thing, the master map if you will. I'd expect that you could do just as well, in an airship, with colored glass plates projected into a spherical room.

There are certainly some constant wind patterns (wind farms would never be profitable otherwise), and at the macro level your airship captains would be aware of standard travel corridors between continents over...

As for how everything affects everything else... we still can't predict weather to a useful degree of accuracy more than a week or so out, so a fantasy world solution/handwave would work as well as anything I think. I'd probably just use a 'Windreader' character class.

Alright, so a couple things I need to clarify: 1, my setting mostly uses real-world physics and magic is less efficient (so manipulating the wind is out except for the most desperate circumstances). 2, I really only need to map out the big-picture currents — kind of like how Europeans made routes to the Americas along the ocean currents.

But thanks. I guess I'll have to look elsewhere.

edited 17th Nov '14 6:44:27 AM by AwSamWeston

Big question, what is the main form of thrust in world?

It is generally believed that anything can move with enough thrust, IE, Our rocketry program. Therefore if you can A) Streamline said Airships, and B) Provide them enough thrust to keep them stable, you should be able to move said airships no problem.

Keep in mind more thrust means more energy as well.

edited 17th Nov '14 9:13:47 AM by echoingsilence

The airships already use magic to keep them in the air and a tiny bit to maneuver, but magic is effectively a resource — think of it like computer processing power: you can allocate different amounts of magic to different tasks, but there's only so much you can use. Lifting an airship takes up a huge chunk of its magic reserves, so wind is important for making it move.

It's also worth noting that magic is used to bend the laws of physics. It's more difficult than working with the laws of physics, which is why magic isn't used for absolutely everything.

That doesn't quite answer your question about thrust, but I hope it gives you an idea.

So Sails. So they are literal ships in the air, like in Final Fantasy.

So that presents some issues, because Wind is Hot air rising then falling because it got cold (at the most basic simple understanding).

What sorts of issues?

Well for one thing where the air typically drifts, if you can't make a map of known air currents for this world don't expect people to be sailing as easily.

Also there are times where there is virtually no wind thus leaving the ship stranded just floating. Especially if they can't find a strong gust.

Perhaps have a backup system of movement in case said ship gets stuck, not as effective as wind currents but good enough to be used in case of emergency.

That "backup system" was already the plan — use some reserve magic (like a backup generator) to add some extra oomph.

And Deus had a pretty interesting idea to use maps that change as the wind currents shift. Might have to use some version of that.

Now I'm realizing how little I actually said about my setting at first. This is a good exercise.

Well mountains force air to rise as they can go through them. I On fact the Himalyas have a mjor effect on the world's wheater patterns