Seasonal Change, and scale limits

[st.patrik]

Originally posted by Saber Cherry:
At the poles, winter is night and summer is day. Seasons are caused by a difference in the length of day in the winter versus summer due to axial tilt. Poles have 24 hour days in the summer and 0 hour days in the winter, so their seasons are the most extreme... while the equator has daylength differences that are very small (maybe 11:30 in the summer/winter and 12:00 in the spring/fall). Deserts tend to not have plants, rain, or nearby bodies of water to moderate their climate, so they get big swings too - even from day to night. Here's the raw data:

http://www.coolantarctica.com/Antarc...le_mcmurdo.htm

Looks like a 30C (54F) swing in average daily temp from midsummer to midwinter. I'd say that's noticable

As for the difference being larger at the tropics of cancer and capricorn... maybe. The poles get so little sunlight that their highs never get very high, and their lows are limited by things like the freezing point of carbon dioxide and sea ice. So, while the seasons are not as extreme away from the poles (where the day and night are each 6 months long), the fact that there is more sunlight away from them allows greater highs, with similar lows during midwinter... yielding greater temperature variance potential.

I read the website - interesting info - I didn't know that they had 3 outPosts down there. Anyways, a 30°C difference is quite a difference, but that's less than Ireland, which varies typically from -10°C to 25°C from winter to summer. And it's a lot less than Ohio, which varies typically from -20°C to 35°C.

Nonetheless your point is taken - there are seasons at the poles.

[ October 22, 2003, 02:58: Message edited by: st.patrik ]