Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
For example, with an axial tilt is 23°, and at a latitude of 45°, then the summer's peak sun angle is 68° (giving sin(68°) = 93% insolation at the surface), while winter's least sun angle is 22° (giving sin(22°) = 37% insolation at the surface). Thus, the greater the axial tilt, the stronger the seasons' variations at a given latitude. [4]
Axial precession will promote more extreme variation in irradiation of the northern hemisphere and less extreme variation in the south. When the Earth's axis is aligned such that aphelion and perihelion occur near the equinoxes, axial tilt will not be aligned with or against eccentricity. [citation needed]
North Pole direction (rotation axis direction) Vernal equinox direction; Orbit eccentricity; Year duration; Orbit plane inclination; All these factors affect how much energy from Sun falls on all the points at a same given latitude (i.e. a parallel) on the planet during daytime; if such amount of energy changes during the year, the planet has ...
The rotational axis of Earth, for example, is the imaginary line that passes through both the North Pole and South Pole, whereas the Earth's orbital axis is the line perpendicular to the imaginary plane through which the Earth moves as it revolves around the Sun; the Earth's obliquity or axial tilt is the angle between these two lines.
The seasons result from the Earth's axis of rotation being tilted with respect to its orbital plane by an angle of approximately 23.4 degrees. [9] (This tilt is also known as "obliquity of the ecliptic".) Regardless of the time of year, the northern and southern hemispheres always experience opposite seasons.
Orbital forcing is the effect on climate of slow changes in the tilt of the Earth's axis and shape of the Earth's orbit around the Sun (see Milankovitch cycles).These orbital changes modify the total amount of sunlight reaching the Earth by up to 25% at mid-latitudes (from 400 to 500 W/(m 2) at latitudes of 60 degrees).
Get AOL Mail for FREE! Manage your email like never before with travel, photo & document views. Personalize your inbox with themes & tabs. You've Got Mail!
Download as PDF; Printable version; ... 23.4397° is Earth's maximum axial tilt toward the sun [3] ... Astronomy Answers: Position of the Sun ...