3.4 Climate Study Comparison

3.4 _ C L I M A T E S T U D Y C O M P A R I S O N :

Temperature fluctuations in the Karoo tend to be extreme with temperatures dropping to below 0°C during the winter season and reaching up to 40°C in the summer. Rainfall in the area is scarce with only 244mm rainfall in an average year, and the average humidity is approximately 51%.

Mofidi (2007) explains, in a research paper titled “Passive architectural cooling principles for arid climates”, that most early civilisations were established in arid and semi-arid climate conditions.

According to Mofidi (2007), survival of life is highly dependent on the environment. These semi-arid environments were acknowledged by ancient settlers, they learned from them and adapted their buildings and construction accordingly. It could be argued that the climatic conditions of a region should play an important role in the architectural design. Mofidi determined design strategies for semi-arid and arid climatic conditions by using case studies of buildings in arid and semi-arid conditions. When looking at the figures below, it is evident that the climate conditions in Sutherland closely mimic those on Mars during specific times of the year. From April to September the temperature in Sutherland closely mimics the temperature on Mars. During the rest of the year these temperatures do not fluctuate extremely far from temperatures on Mars.

The understanding and general consensus amongst the scientific community is that Mars is an incredibly arid and warm, or hot, climatic region. Thus, the planet has hot “weather” for three months, whereas Sutherland experiences three months of colder weather. This shows that when considering the climate on Mars and comparing it with Sutherland’s climate, it is inverted, because the climate on Mars is cold, warm, cold, and Sutherland’s climate is warm, cold, warm.

Figure 3: Average Climate of Sutherland (Best Time to Visit, 2021)

Figure 4: Average Climate of Mars (NASA Quest, 2015)