Atmospheric Composition

Kōna has an atmosphere which is extremely rich in CO₂. This causes a high-level greenhouse effect which warms the planet to an average of 21ºC, creating vast deserts. Additionally, due to the high atmospheric pressure on Kōna, the partial pressure of CO₂ is too high at elevations below 500 meters to sustain life in most areas. The exceptions to this are areas with extreme levels of vegetation, which help to filter the carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, making the air breathable for humans. Some organisms are well adapted for and able to thrive in these high-CO₂ environments, but such ecosystems tend to be fragile as they sustain very little vegetation. Therefore, most of the world's biomass resides in its oceans, rainforests, and mountains higher than 500m above sea level.    Another side effect of this is that the nutritional requirements for plants are met more easily, since they intake CO₂ and output O₂. This causes massive organisms such as the central tree of Kastatsz Tuszimos to grow, and occasionally causes some ecosystems to grow so rapidly that any human efforts to trim them back are impossible. This can also cause extremely high levels of oxygen in some areas during the growth season for plants, making those areas significantly more prone to wildfires, and enabling certain animals with short lifespans to grow to monstrous proportions.   Finally, the high atmospheric pressure (as well as the light emitted by the sun) causes the sky and the plants to take on certain colors. The sky tends to have a bright white color during the day, and a rich, rusty orange color as the sun is setting.   Most plants are any color between light green and dark orange, although there are of course exceptions, and there is a smaller group of leafy plants which produce purple growth instead.