Rosharan tides

[Maximus]

Ok, so from what I understand from the moons thread, the moons of Roshar are three in number, have very similar orbits with a period of one day, and orbit in the opposite direction as the sun(from the perspective of Roshar, I'm not advocating a Rosharcentric view of the universe). In addition I believe it was determined that they are quite small and have extremely elliptical orbits.

 

This makes me wonder about tidal forces. IIRC there was WoB that the seas didn't have much tidal variation. This would make sense. With such a short tidal cycle and such small objects distributed across the sky, there wouldn't be much work being done on the sea water.

 

However, seas are not the only thing affected by tidal forces. The atmosphere is as well. On Earth this is what drives some of our prevailing winds IIRC. I would expect the gaseous atmosphere to be much quicker to respond to tidal forces. However on Roshar the tidal system would likely be much more complex with 4 bodies pulling on it (the sun has a tidal effect too) and all in a synchronized manner.

 

My theory is that over time, the tidal forces on the atmosphere result in a sort of resonant pattern of super-waves, resulting in the highstorm(s).

 

Supporting points:

1. We know they are periodic. The Stormwardens can predict them mathematically. It would appear they have a period of 1000 days?

 

2. The moons are almost certainly placed in those orbits by design. Whoever placed them there may well have had a thing for resonant patterns(see cymatics and the dawncities)

 

3. Highstorms travel from east to west, same as the moons

 

This may not be the strongest of theories, but it seems there's something there.

[soulcastJam he/him]

This is a nice theory but I don't think the highstorms are caused by a natural process.  The stormfather chose to send one early which he couldn't have done if they were dependent on moon position (unless he moved the moons which I don't think he is capable of).  Considering that he is part of the highstorm, I think they are mainly dependent on the investiture he puts into them and where he is.

[Maximus]

I thought we had WoB that the storms predated the investiture within them. I'll see if I can find it

 

Edit: Can't seem to find it now. I could have sworn the highstorms were a pre-existing condition.

Edited October 1, 2014 by Maximus

[WeiryWriter he/him]

I thought we had WoB that the storms predated the investiture within them. I'll see if I can find it

 

Edit: Can't seem to find it now. I could have sworn the highstorms were a pre-existing condition.

 

No you are right:

 

 

Q:  Do highstorms get weaker as they move west because of normal meteorological reasons the same way a hurricane gets weaker over land or is it because they slowly drain investiture as they infuse spheres over the whole continent?

A:  Both.  He said that anything like that will be affected by both normal science as well as the magic, but then he added that the highstorms are a natural occurring phenomenon that were on the planet before stuff started going down. I didn't get this confirmed, but I think he meant the stormlight part of the storm was added later, I'm assuming by a Shard.

 

(source)

[Mistdork she/her]

Weiry beat me too it, darn...and just when I found the WoB, too. xD

This has kind of been my head cannon for awhile, though, my understanding of tidal forces is limited for the most part beyond the realization that three moons would create some crazy storms (the sun's tidal force would be more limited in this regard, though). So, this is a very good point, Maximus!

 

As you've mentioned, OP, I agree that it does seem like Something decided to perhaps make Roshar this way. However, it seems it might be Adonalsium who made it that way or at least influenced it to form that way in some fashion. Perhaps that explains the shape of the continent too. Hints of Adonalsium in the underlying math and physics, how fun!