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This is because it is the point when the shortening of daylight hours is reversed and the daytime begins to lengthen again. In parts of Europe it was seen as the symbolic death and rebirth of the Sun. Some ancient monuments such as Newgrange, Stonehenge, and Cahokia Woodhenge are aligned with the sunrise or sunset on the winter solstice.
Melting of Iceland’s glaciers could raise sea levels by a centimeter, [28] which could lead to erosion and flooding worldwide. [29] Locally, glacial recession could cause crustal uplift, [28] which could disrupt buildings. Some places in Iceland have already seen the crust rise at a rate of 40 millimeters per year. [28]
The December-solstice solar year is the solar year based on the December solstice. It is thus the length of time between adjacent December solstices. The length of the December-solstice year has been relatively stable between 6000 BC and AD 2000, in the range of 49 minutes 30 seconds to 50 minutes in excess of 365 days 5 hours.
During the December Solstice, the effects on both hemispheres are just the opposite. This sees polar sea ice re-grow annually due to lack of sunlight on the air above and surrounding sea. The warmest and coldest periods of the year in temperate regions are offset by about one month from the solstices, delayed by the earth's thermal inertia.
In June or December, astronomical dawn to sunrise or sunset to astronomical dusk occurs at latitudes less than 48°34' North or South, because in June the Sun crosses the Tropic of Cancer (about 23°26' North) and in December the Sun crosses the Tropic of Capricorn (about 23°26' South).
The earliest sunset and latest sunrise dates outside the polar regions differ from the date of the winter solstice and depend on latitude. They differ due to the variation in the solar day throughout the year caused by the Earth's elliptical orbit (see: earliest and latest sunrise and sunset ).
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Calculate the sunset time, which is the solar noon time plus the sunset hour angle in degree divided by 15; Use the sunset time as input to the solar geometry routine to get the solar azimuth angle at sunset. An interesting feature in the figure on the right is apparent hemispheric symmetry in regions where daily sunrise and sunset actually occur.