So I was looking at google maps while working because of course I was. I’m not even kidding when I say that I was wondering if there’s some nice place far enough south to experience 18+ hours of sunlight and nice weather in the southern summer as we do here in the northern summer in Estonia. But when I took a look, the closest thing would be the southernmost tip of Chile, which apparently is pretty cold in the (southern hemisphere) summer. And just a few more degrees south, we have Antarctica. Here, you go a few more degrees north and you just get Finland.
I was wondering what the reasoning is - is it something inherent to the Earth’s orbit around the sun, or is it due to the shapes of the continents, the ocean currents, etc?
Edit: Many great answers here. Thank you!
Europe is a lot warmer than it should be because of the gulf stream that brings warm water from the equator. If you look at the same latitute in north america/Asia the climate will be a lot cooler there.
South america on the other hand is cooler than it should be simply by latitude because of the humbold current and the Antarctic ocean.
So you are comparing the warmest point with the coldest one at the same latitude (mirrored on the southern hemisphere)
Bit of an urban legend apparently. Despite the gulf stream transporting warm water it is nowhere near enough to explain the difference. Richard Seager et al quantitatively put its contribution at around 30% of the difference. The bulk cause is actually air currents and the different topography between Europe and N America. In other words, if there were no gulf stream the ‘warm Europe’ phenomena would still be very much noticeable.
Sources:
https://www.academia.edu/75356473/Is_the_Gulf_Stream_responsible_for_Europes_mild_winters (free)
https://www.jstor.org/stable/27858802?read-now=1 (free after registration)
Discussion here: https://earthscience.stackexchange.com/questions/43/why-is-europe-warmer-than-north-america-at-similar-latitudes
I’m not an expert but I think it’s because of the shapes of the continents and oceans and their effect on ocean currents.
The Arctic Ocean is effectively a northern extension of the Atlantic, with relatively little water exchange with the Pacific. So, currents flow primarily north-south, allowing warm water to be exchanged.
By contrast, the Southern Ocean is not hemmed in by land, and so there’s nothing stopping currents flowing longitudinally rather than latitudinally - which is exactly what happens. Cold water is exchanged for other cold water, at least on the surface, keeping the ocean and surrounding areas cooler.
(Please correct me if I’m wrong!)
(Please correct me if I’m wrong!)
You got longitude and latitude backwards, but otherwise 👍
The mnemonic I use is that longitude lines are all equally long, which means they must be the ones that are meridians and thus go north-south.
In contrast, latitude lines are all different lengths, analogous to how being given latitude in the figurative sense affords you freedom of choice.
(I’m willing to bet there’s an Age of Exploration sailing idiom somewhere in that etymology, BTW — probably something about how straying north or south of your target course in order to catch the right wind is no big deal because you can just use your sextant to keep track of it, but straying farther east or west than you intend means you’re screwed because chronometers hadn’t been invented yet.)
While the North and South poles match the planet’s axis of spin. If you’re comparing differences in latitude, you’re looking at it as if the Earth were spinning around a vertical point between the poles, but the planet itself is tilted 23.5° compared to the solar plane. Plus we’re in an elliptical orbit, not circular, and that axis of tilt also wobbles about from the pull of not only the Sun but also the gas giants in our solar system like Saturn and Jupiter, and of course the Moon which also gives us our regular tides.
There’s a lot of factors that go into orbital mechanics. All of which result in our planet having widely varying tidal forces, distinct seasons, but still resulting in an overall stable and balanced ecosystem.
