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Beyond creating a closed ecological system - that focuses on providing a balanced homeostatic environment - what is the smallest area that could create actual weather events?

If we wanted to engineer a rain fall through simulating the environmental conditions, would the structure need to be the size of a planet and its atmosphere? Can it be achieved in a structure the size of a continent... a state... a sports stadium?

What methods could be used to estimate the minimum size; volume of air, altitude, barometric pressure areas, etc.?

I am trying to understand how to identify a theoretical lower limit of recreating a functional weather system. Not just a simulation of the conditions on a micro scale.

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  • $\begingroup$ What size weather event are you talking about? A thunderstorm? A front? A sea breeze? All of these produce rain, but each are different sizes? $\endgroup$ May 1, 2017 at 12:46
  • $\begingroup$ @baroclinicplusplus Would you share more about how these distinctions would effect the size of the enclosure? $\endgroup$ May 1, 2017 at 12:56
  • $\begingroup$ Sure. If you have a sea breeze, then the size of your enclosure (domain) needs to be between 2 and 2000 kilometers in length to merely fit the entire system in. A low pressure system would be even larger. The bare minimum of reanalyzing (recreating) a system in a domain is fitting the system which you are studying within the domain. $\endgroup$ May 1, 2017 at 13:05
  • $\begingroup$ Thanks. I'm going to leave the question open, but will be looking into this for future edits. $\endgroup$ May 1, 2017 at 13:11
  • $\begingroup$ The Vehicle Assembly Building at KSC reportedly has its own internal weather system, including clouds & rain. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_Assembly_Building $\endgroup$
    – jamesqf
    May 2, 2017 at 5:00

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