Being an accumulation of scouting report records for Planet HYPNOT in the star system SHINE, located in an arm of spiral galaxy NGC1300.

As we learned in the previous post, Planet Hypnot’s atmosphere is quite different from Earth’s.  It contains more oxygen and carbon dioxide than Earth.  Because of the different content of atmospheric gases and dust, the air and water of Hypnot look bright green instead of blue.  If Earth is the Blue Planet, then Hypnot is truly the GREEN PLANET !  The level of carbon dioxide in Hypnot’s atmosphere is about 26 times that of Earth’s.  Carbon dioxide is basically plant food, as opposed to oxygen, which is the basis of animal life.  The abundance of both oxygen and carbon dioxide has greatly influenced the evolution of carbon-based life on the planet.  Both animal life and plant life are promoted highly by Hypnot’s atmosphere, relative to the Earth.  The higher metabolic rates on the planet result in a continuous explosion of life.  Consequently, the biomass burden (total mass of lifeforms per unit area) on the planet’s land and water surface is very much greater than Earth’s.  Plant life on Hypnot, however, is much more highly favored than animal life.  Most of the planet’s surface, both land and oceans, is clogged with vegetable matter.  The oceans are saltier than Earth’s, and are filled with suspended green algae.  In places, the algae is so thick that the sea water resembles green tomato juice.  Large portions of the seas are covered with vast clumps of floating ocean plants up to many meters thick.  This material is like seaweed that grows out of the sea like grass, forming flat plates called “greenfloes.”  The clumps can aggregate into continent-sized fields of turf that behave similarly to ice floes on Earth.  Currents can causes greenfloes to crumple when compressed, uplifting temporary green mountains of plant matter.  These mountains rot away and are dissipated quickly by the many other robust environmental forces.  Greenfloes can be broken up by storms, or by currents that cause them to simply drift apart.  They can also be consumed by voracious hordes of seasonal marine life as the ecological pendulum swings from time to time in temporary favor of the proliferation of animal life.  The thicker of these floating temporary land masses can be traversed on foot or by vehicle.  But because they offer no solid foundation, they are unsuitable for supporting permanent buildings.  Research facilities sited on greenfloes must be designed as amphibious structures or boats.  The land, air, and oceans of Hypnot teem with a bewildering array of animal and plant life.  The simpler animal forms feed on the greenfloes, or on the green algae that permeates the seas.