The 4 Seasons of The Year

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The 4 seasons of the year

On planet Earth there are large areas whose climate has four
seasons a year. Depending on latitude and altitude,
meteorological changes can be minimal, as in low tropical areas,
or maximum, as in mid-latitudes.
In these middle regions of the planet the climate is changeable. The
year is divided into climatic seasons , with more or less similar
characteristics, which affect the landscape, living beings and human
activities.

In general, there are four seasons of about three months each,


although there are areas of the Earth where there are only two, the
wet and the dry; for example, in monsoon zones.

Causes and effects of the seasons

The Earth's axis is inclined with respect to the plane of the planet's
orbit around the Sun. For this reason, some regions receive different
amounts of sunlight depending on the time of year. The climatic
variations that the Earth suffers are more pronounced in cold and
temperate zones, and softer or even imperceptible in the tropics.

The following table indicates the start dates, duration and inclination
of the Earth's axis of the four astronomical seasons . Climatic
seasons, on the other hand, are usually counted by entire months,
starting from the first day of the month in which the corresponding
astronomical season begins.

Days
Start H. north H. south duration Inclination
March 20-21 Spring Autumn 92,9 0th
June 21-22 Summer Winter 93,7 23.5º North
September 22-24 Autumn Spring 89,6 0th
December 21-22 Winter Summer 89,0 23.5º South

The four seasons are: spring, summer, autumn and winter . The
first two make up the half year in which the days last longer than the
nights, while in the other two the nights are longer than the days.

Since variations in climate are due to the tilt of the Earth's axis, they
do not occur at the same time in the Northern (Boreal) hemisphere
and in the Southern (Austral) hemisphere, but rather they are
inverted in relation to each other. When it is summer in one
hemisphere, it is winter in the other, and when autumn begins in one,
spring begins in the other.

While the Earth moves with the axis of the North Pole inclined
towards the Sun, that of the South Pole is in the opposite direction
and the northern regions receive more solar radiation than those in
the south. Later this process is reversed and the areas of the northern
hemisphere receive less heat, when the days become shorter and the
sun's rays fall more inclined.

Solstices and equinoxes

The astronomical seasons are determined by the four main positions


in the Earth's orbit, opposite two by two, which are called solstices
and equinoxes. Winter solstice, spring equinox, summer solstice and
autumn equinox.

At the equinoxes, the Earth's axis of rotation is perpendicular to the


Sun's rays, which fall vertically on the equator. On the solstices, the
Earth's axis is tilted by about 23.5º, so the sun's rays fall vertically on
the Tropic of Cancer (summer in the northern hemisphere) or
Capricorn (summer in the southern hemisphere).

Not all seasons last the same since, due to the eccentricity of the
Earth's orbit, our planet travels around the Sun at variable speed. The
Earth goes faster the closer it is to the Sun and slower the further
away it is.

The rigor of each season is also not the same for both hemispheres.
The Earth is closer to the Sun at the beginning of January (perihelion)
than at the beginning of July (aphelion), which means that it receives
7% more heat in the first month of the year than in the middle of it.
For this reason, overall, in addition to other factors, the boreal winter
is less cold than the southern one, and the southern summer is hotter
than the northern one.

On the other hand, due to various disturbances that the Earth


experiences while it revolves around the Sun, it does not go through
the solstices and equinoxes exactly, which means that the different
seasons do not always begin on the same precise date and time.

You have to pay attention to the media or consult an astronomical


calendar if you want to know exactly when the four seasons begin
each year.

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