Solar Illumination: Seasonal and Diurnal Patterns

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Solar Illumination: Seasonal and Diurnal Patterns

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The Earth rotates about its polar axis as it revolves around the sun. Earths polar axis is tilted 23.5° to the orbital plane (ecliptic plane). Combinations of rotation, revolution, and tilt of the polar axis result in differential illumination and changing illumination patterns on Earth. These changing patterns of illumination result in differential heating of Earths surface that, in turn, creates seasonal climatic and weather patterns.

The Earths rotation results in cycles of daylight and darkness. One daylight and night cycle constitutes a diurnal cycle. Daylight and darkness are separated by a terminatora shadowy zone of twilight. Earths rate of rotationapproximately 24 hoursfixes the time of the overall cycle (i.e., the length of a day). However, the number of hours of daylight and darkness within each day varies depending upon latitude and season (i.e., Earths location in its elliptical orbital path about the sun).

On Earths surface, a circle of illumination describes a latitude that defines an extreme boundary of perpetual daylight or perpetual darkness. Tropics are latitudes that mark the farthest northward and farthest southward line of latitude where the solar zenith (the highest angle the sun reaches in the sky during the day) corresponds to the local zenith (the point directly above the observer). At zenith, the sun provides the most direct (most intense) illumination. Patterns of illumination and the apparent motion of the sun on the hypothetical celestial sphere establish several key latitudes. The North Pole is located at 90°North latitude; the Arctic Circle defines an area from 66.5° N to the North Pole; the Tropic of Cancer defines an area from the Equator to 23.5° N; the Tropic of Capricorn defines an area from the equator to 23.5° S; and the Antarctic Circle defines an area from 66.5° S to the South Pole.

There are seasonal differences in the amount and directness of daylight (e.g., the first day of summer always has the longest period of daylight, and the first day of winter the least amount of daylight). With

regard to the Northern Hemisphere, at winter solstice (approximately December 21st), Earths North Pole is pointed away from the sun, and sunlight falls more directly on the Southern Hemisphere. At the summer solstice (approximately June 21), Earths North Pole is tilted toward the sun, and sunlight falls more directly on the Northern Hemisphere. At the intervening vernal and autumnal equinoxes, the North and South Pole are oriented so that they have the same angular relationship to the sun and, therefore, receive equal illumination. In the Southern Hemisphere, the winter and summer solstices are exchanged so that the solstice that marks the first day of winter in the Northern Hemisphere marks the first day of summer in the Southern Hemisphere.

At autumnal equinox (approximately September 21st), there is uniform illumination of Earths surface (i.e., 12 hrs of daylight everywhere except exactly at the poles, which are both illuminated). At winter solstice (approximately December 21st), there is perpetual sunlight within the Antarctic Circle (i.e., the Antarctic Circle is fully illuminated). At vernal equinox (approximately March 21st), the illumination patterns return to the state of the autumnal equinox. At vernal equinox, there is uniform illumination of Earths surface (i.e., 12 hrs of daylight everywhere except exactly at the poles, which are both illuminated). At summer solstice (approximately June 21st), there is perpetual sunlight within the Arctic Circle (i.e., the Arctic Circle is fully illuminated).

The illumination patterns in the polar regions within the Artic Circle and Antarctic Circleare dynamic and inverse. As the extent of perpetual illumination (perpetual daylight) increasesto the maximum extent specified by the latitude of each circlethe extent of perpetual darkness increases within the other polar circle. For example, at winter solstice, there is no illumination within the Artic circle (i.e., perpetual night within the area 66.5° N to the North Pole). Conversely, the Antarctic Circle experiences complete daylight (i.e., perpetual daylight within the area 66.5° S to the North Pole). As Earths axial tilt and revolution about the Sun continue to produce changes in polar axial orientation that result in a progression to the vernal equinox, the circle of perpetual darkness decreases in extent round the North Pole as the circle of perpetual daylight decreases around the South Pole. At equinox, both polar regions receive the same illumination.

At the equator, the sun is directly overhead at local noon at both the vernal and autumnal equinox. The Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn denote latitudes where the sun is directly overhead at local noon at a solstice. Along the Tropic of Cancer, the sun is directly overhead at local noon at the June 21st solstice (the Northern Hemispheres summer solstice and the Southern Hemispheres winter solstice). Along the Tropic of Capricorn, the sun is directly overhead at local noon at the December 21st solstice.

Precession of Earths polar axis also results in a long-term precession of seasonal patterns.

Although the most dramatic changes in illumination occurs within the polar regions, the differences in daylight hoursaffecting the amount of solar energy or solar insolation receivedcause the greatest climatic variations in the middle latitude temperate regions. The polar and equatorial regions exhibit seasonal patterns, but these are much more uniform (i.e., either consistently cold in the polar regions or consistently hot in the near equatorial tropical regions) than the wild temperature swings found in temperate climates.

Differences in illumination are a more powerful factor in determining climatic seasonal variations than Earths distance from the sun. Because Earths orbit is only slightly elliptical, the variation from the closest approach at perihelion (approximately January 3rd) to the farthest Earth orbital position at aphelion six months later (varies less than 3%). Because the majority of tropospheric heating occurs via conduction of heat from the surface, differing amounts of sunlight (differential levels of solar insolation) result in differential temperatures in Earths troposphere that then drive convective currents and establish low and high pressure areas of convergence and divergence.

See also Atmosphere observation; Atmosphere, composition and structure; Atmospheric circulation; Atmospheric optical phenomena; Latitude and longitude; Meteorology; Precession of the equinoxes; Seasons.

Resources

BOOKS

Luhr, James F., ed. Earth. New York: DK Publishing, 2003. Mathez, Edmond A., ed. Earth: Inside and Out. New York: New Press, 2001.

Mathez, Edmond A. The Earth Machine: The Science of a Dynamic Planet. New York: Columbia University Press, 2003.

Press, F. and R. Siever. Understanding Earth. 3rd ed. New York: W.H Freeman and Company, 2001.

Sobel, Dava. The Planets. New York: Viking, 2005.

OTHER NASA

Earth Observatory. Measuring Solar Insolation <http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=4803> (October 26, 2006).

K. Lee Lerner

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