Unwrapped inner deck · circumference left → right · rim to rim top → bottom. Both ends join. Display is not to scale.
This browser simulation integrates surface energy balance on a cylindrical inner deck: absorbed sunlight minus outgoing infrared radiation, with conservative diffusive heat exchange. Circumference is periodic; the rim edges exchange no heat. Rotation follows the existing Orbital’s radius and 1 g deck gravity.
Illumination is a prescribed moving half-day cosine, assuming an external star in the ring plane and no rim shading. Land and ocean have different heat capacities; freezing increases albedo. An approximate moisture budget includes ocean evaporation, diffusive mixing, condensation in an assumed cooler cloud layer, and rainout. Cloud coverage reflects sunlight back to space. The initial atmosphere is moist; clouds adjust as the model runs. The 128 × 32 grid represents very coarse sectors, not local storms. Land/ocean coverage is synthetic, rather than imported from the Planet tool. The map exaggerates the band width.
This is an exploratory energy-balance model, not ExoPlaSim, CM1, or a validated Orbital climate forecast. Clouds are coarse fractional coverage, not resolved cloud shapes or storms. Moisture and rainout are simplified parameterizations, not a forecast. The model does not solve winds, Coriolis circulation, cloud microphysics, latent heating, seasons, vertical structure, or engineered climate control. This model is independent of the spherical ExoPlaSim and gas-giant solvers.
Method background: GFDL: diffusive atmospheric heat transport.