Question about Aimia

[Zoey]

I have a question about Aimia, to see if maybe I can get an answer from a member of Brandon's Team or just somebody pointing out a place where this was answered, but I at least can't find any questions about this on Archanum. 

But why is Aimia so cold? As one can see from the Map of Roshar, it is not that far South, so it should actually have a temperature much like the rest of Roshar, but it is notably too cold for life to thrive without terraforming. Stormlight is in general very consistent with temperatures and their correlation with location, with Frostlands and Thaylenah being particularly cold, and it gets warmer as you move north towards the equator. 

However, with how Aimia is described, it sounds significantly colder than either Thaylenah or Frostlands, when it should logically be most comparable with Shinovar or Azir in terms of temperature. Has there been an explanation to this? Or has the pecularity of this been pointed out in the works?

 

[Zoey]

5 hours ago, king of nowhere said:

temperature also depends on other factors, like sea and air currents. stockholm and the baffin island are at the same latitude, but the first has a temperate cold climate and supports farming to feed millions, while the second is a frozen tundra with a few thousand inhabitants.

 

from that, i can guess that there could be a circular current around the continent, coming south from the steamwater ocean, warming aimia, then moving westward and getting colder, until it hits aimia as a cold current.

That would make sense, yeah. 

 

Here is a possible way for the winds to go based on the mountains and where life if. Makabaki Area would be winds from the north, east, or west, which reflect the very barren nature. 

Northern can be a normal current, which flowing through collects moisture, being most prominent at Reshi Isles, Purelake, and Iri. And grows somewhat more dry over Jah Keved and Alethkar. Alethkar would also be drier due to the Unclaimed Hills. But can get moisture through the aforementioned current through Reshi, Purelake and such. And a current which flows from Forstlands and up through the South. 

Shinovar likely has a western or northern wind current. western due to how the mountains to the west are very thin, and if going from the west it would be caught by the Misted Mountains, and gather a lot of moisture in Shinovar. One (Wind Current) which passes through the tip of Steen, explaining why it is slightly green in that area. Alm would be green through the mountains being far thinner in that area, likely taking away far less moisture. If it goes from North to South, and curve back up towards Aimia, it would gather the cold temperatures of that area and make Aimia far colder. 

 

This is all a theory, I don't have the best understanding of how to map out or predict wind currents. 

[king of nowhere]

48 minutes ago, Zoey said:

I have a question about Aimia, to see if maybe I can get an answer from a member of Brandon's Team or just somebody pointing out a place where this was answered, but I at least can't find any questions about this on Archanum. 

But why is Aimia so cold? As one can see from the Map of Roshar, it is not that far South, so it should actually have a temperature much like the rest of Roshar, but it is notably too cold for life to thrive without terraforming. Stormlight is in general very consistent with temperatures and their correlation with location, with Frostlands and Thaylenah being particularly cold, and it gets warmer as you move north towards the equator. 

However, with how Aimia is described, it sounds significantly colder than either Thaylenah or Frostlands, when it should logically be most comparable with Shinovar or Azir in terms of temperature. Has there been an explanation to this? Or has the pecularity of this been pointed out in the works?

 

temperature also depends on other factors, like sea and air currents. stockholm and the baffin island are at the same latitude, but the first has a temperate cold climate and supports farming to feed millions, while the second is a frozen tundra with a few thousand inhabitants.

 

from that, i can guess that there could be a circular current around the continent, coming south from the steamwater ocean, warming aimia, then moving westward and getting colder, until it hits aimia as a cold current.

[Zoey]

7 minutes ago, Zoey said:

That would make sense, yeah. 

 

Here is a possible way for the winds to go based on the mountains and where life if. Makabaki Area would be winds from the north, east, or west, which reflect the very barren nature. 

Northern can be a normal current, which flowing through collects moisture, being most prominent at Reshi Isles, Purelake, and Iri. And grows somewhat more dry over Jah Keved and Alethkar. Alethkar would also be drier due to the Unclaimed Hills. But can get moisture through the aforementioned current through Reshi, Purelake and such. And a current which flows from Forstlands and up through the South. 

Shinovar likely has a western or northern wind current. western due to how the mountains to the west are very thin, and if going from the west it would be caught by the Misted Mountains, and gather a lot of moisture in Shinovar. One (Wind Current) which passes through the tip of Steen, explaining why it is slightly green in that area. Alm would be green through the mountains being far thinner in that area, likely taking away far less moisture. If it goes from North to South, and curve back up towards Aimia, it would gather the cold temperatures of that area and make Aimia far colder. 

 

This is all a theory, I don't have the best understanding of how to map out or predict wind currents. 

Update, I tried putting a map of Earths Currents over Roshar, and it seems to make sense. 

Ignore the Earths Continents which you can see over it. This does seem to make some sense with the geography of Roshar. 

[Frustration]

I'm guessing it's a localized weather phenomenon, like the storm there.

[GoWibble]

39 minutes ago, Zoey said:

However, with how Aimia is described, it sounds significantly colder than either Thaylenah or Frostlands, when it should logically be most comparable with Shinovar or Azir in terms of temperature. Has there been an explanation to this? Or has the pecularity of this been pointed out in the works?

Remember, temperature is relative. Could you find the quotes for the temperatures? I think that this might just be how the person experiencing it feels, not the temperature to the degree. And I think that the storm around Aimia is contributing to this. 

[Quantus]

2 hours ago, GoWibble said:

Remember, temperature is relative. Could you find the quotes for the temperatures? I think that this might just be how the person experiencing it feels, not the temperature to the degree. And I think that the storm around Aimia is contributing to this. 

There were climate controlling fabrials that failed, killing nearly all of the existing (but maybe not literally native?) life and leaving it barren (Dawnshard Ch.9).  

Makes me wonder if Shin has a similar (and similarly vulnerable) system?  Id always sort of assumed that Shin's terraforming was a Handwave miracle from the Shards, but I wonder if it used a more grounded system...

[Quantus]

First off, phenomenal work!

Second, does this take the Highstorm into consideration?  Significant Westward wind basically doesn't happen on Roshar, right?

[Zoey]

On 6/17/2021 at 7:37 AM, Quantus said:

First off, phenomenal work!

Second, does this take the Highstorm into consideration?  Significant Westward wind basically doesn't happen on Roshar, right?

It took the East-West Winds of the Highstorm into account, yes. I just forgot to take into account as well the fact that it would also keep most of its moisture when crossing Unclaimed Hills due to just how significant the storm is. 

Also, it didn't say that West-East winds didn't occur afaik, so it is safe to assume such winds do exist. 

What I don't have into account is the effects that the higher rotational speed has on the Coriolis Effect, which would be a significant factor.