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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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| As we said previously, the actual width of the eastern green strip depends on local conditions |
Weasel words! There might be some local variation but the point about the Eastern Effect is that it is limited (to plus or minus 500 kms). Your scheme is not limited since foliage shall beget foliage ad infinitum.
Just as a test of your AE-skills, lay aside your idée fixe for a moment and see if you can come up with the kind of mechanism I am clearly angling for. We can always junk it in favour of yours later.
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Chad
In: Ramsbottom
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| the point about the Eastern Effect is that it is limited (to plus or minus 500 kms). |
Clearly not... particularly in the case of the Sahara.
| Your scheme is not limited since foliage shall beget foliage ad infinitum. |
Of course it's limited... by the desertificating forces from the west... it's all a question of balance.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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the point about the Eastern Effect is that it is limited (to plus or minus 500 kms).
Clearly not... particularly in the case of the Sahara. |
We have not yet dealt here with the Sahara but the 500 kms rule operates there quite fully (if a little obscurely because of local geography). The Red Sea does not count so the "Sahara" (we are not of course stultified by political labels) is finally brought to a halt by the Eastern Effect of the Bay of Bengal!
Your scheme is not limited since foliage shall beget foliage ad infinitum.
Of course it's limited... by the desertificating forces from the west... it's all a question of balance. |
Oh right, so wherever it stops it...er...stops. And you can construct the varying balancing forces to fit your own theory. It is true that the Western Effect can blot out the Eastern Effect (it is not clear whether they are aggregated) but that is the only 'balance' I can accept unless you are prepared to put numbers on your claim.
Meanwhile my previous request remains extant.
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Ishmael
In: Toronto
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| Mick Harper wrote: | | The Red Sea does not count |
Why?
Answer this question and you solve the riddle of the Eastern Effect.
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Chad
In: Ramsbottom
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| Mick Harper wrote: | | the "Sahara" (we are not of course stultified by political labels) is finally brought to a halt by the Eastern Effect of the Bay of Bengal! |
I'm just a little puzzled as to how the Bay of Bengal can exert an Eastern Effect, when its near identical twin, the Arabian Sea clearly can't...?!?...
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Ishmael
In: Toronto
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| Chad wrote: | | I was simply being consistent by applying exactly the same reasoning and logic that I used to explain why there was vegetation east of the Andes (adjacent to the Atacama). The eastern margin is green simply because there is vegetation growing there (and transpiring)... as before, there is no need to explain how the vegetation got there... we just need to explain how it is preventing desert from taking hold. |
Apply this principle to the Eastern Effect.
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Ishmael
In: Toronto
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| Chad wrote: | | I'm just a little puzzled as to how the Bay of Bengal can exert an Eastern Effect, when its near identical twin, the Arabian Sea clearly can't...?!?... |
What is in Arabia that is not in India?
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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The Red Sea does not count
Why? Answer this question and you solve the riddle of the Eastern Effect. |
As I recall, it was because sand could come and go across it thereby negating your Eastern Effect explanation which is that sand (or at any rate any loose stuff that literally prevents plants taking root) always gets blown about except at the eastern margin where it blows into the sea and cannot return. Ingenious but I have never accepted it.
| I'm just a little puzzled as to how the Bay of Bengal can exert an Eastern Effect, when its near identical twin, the Arabian Sea clearly can't...?!?... |
Ishmael would say that there is sand in one example but not in the other. I would say that it is a matter of unreliable rainfall statistics. I prefer to take the eastern boundaries of Saudi Arabia to mark where the true desert ends (and Ethiopia's further south). However I shall be suitably agog if you can come up with really reliable statistics.
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Chad
In: Ramsbottom
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Looks pretty dry down that south-east bit.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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Yes, yes, all right. No need to gloat.
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Hatty
Site Admin
In: Berkshire
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| As I recall, it was because sand could come and go across it thereby negating your Eastern Effect explanation which is that sand (or at any rate any loose stuff that literally prevents plants taking root) always gets blown about except at the eastern margin where it blows into the sea and cannot return. |
I was thinking along those lines except less articulately but it is still cart before horse since sand only blows about when dry. As you can see on any seashore grass and even trees manage to get a foothold in sand the minute there's enough rainfall.
| The Red Sea does not count |
Is it because of its narrowness? Its widest point is 355 km. and there's a photo on wiki showing a dust storm blowing across (presumably west-east, can't tell from the pic) from one shore to the other.
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Ishtar
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| Hatty wrote: | | Is it because of its narrowness? |
I wondered about its lack of tides (no seaweed sitting on the beach) but I don't think there is much special about an eastern tide.
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Chad
In: Ramsbottom
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| Mick wrote: | | Oh right, so wherever it stops it...er...stops. And you can construct the varying balancing forces to fit your own theory |
You advocate equilibrium positions for both oceanic evaporation and sea-ice extent... but oppose the idea with respect to the cline between desert and vegetation brought about by the eastern effect...?...
P.S. I will though continue to search for other (more stable) mechanisms.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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Don't get cute with me, pally, or I'll fuck off for Christmas for the next approximately seven days leaving you high and dry to fester with your thoughts. Meanwhile you can (all) describe the deserts of North America, from theory and from l'actualité.
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Chad
In: Ramsbottom
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You're too kind Mick... it's many a long year since anybody described me as cute.
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