Daily Dose of Sultnpapper 08/27/18> Summer is winding down… and that just isn’t right.

in #dailydose6 years ago

Next week it is over...

A week from today here in the United States of America we have a federal holiday coming up that we call Labor Day. It also is known as the unofficial end of summer. To tell you the truth, I think this summer went way to fast this year, the last three months have been like a like a blur to me. I can tell you that I didn’t get near the things done that I had hoped to get done. So hopefully we’ll have a good fall and I will be able to tackle some of those projects.

Noticeably shorter days...

The days are getting noticeably shorter as far as the daylight hours go even right now. Back in the middle of July it seemed like it stayed light out almost until 9:00 PM now it is getting dark at a few minutes after 8:00PM. One of these days, if I ever get some free time, I want to do a little studying on the seasons, weather, and the sun and moon.

Seasons mess with my mind...

I have a hard time comprehending just how we can have seasons that on one side of the earth are opposite those on the other side of the earth at the same time. Another thing I have trouble understanding is how we can have such big temperature differences on this earth at the same time. I was taught in school that the sun was the source of heat for planet earth along with being the source of light.

Texas isn't the South Pole...

So how is it that I am here in Texas where we have been having 100 degree Fahrenheit temperate days pretty regularly these last few weeks and about 8700 miles to the south of here in Antarctica at the South Pole the average temperature is -56 Fahrenheit for this time of year?

That is over 150 degrees temperature variation yet we are both getting our sun light and heat from the same source, the sun. So what makes the South Pole so much colder and the same goes for the North Pole, while not as cold as the South Pole, the north stays pretty cold year round too?
Now I know some one of you good folks are going to explain it to me or at least attempt too.

I'm sure there is an explanation coming....

I think it is going to go something like this, “What you aren’t taking into consideration @sultnpapper is that Texas , while not at the equator , is still considerably closer to the sun that the poles are, So the sunlight and heat are more intense in Texas than at the poles.” Then the next sentence will be,” So the nearer the sun the warmer it is going to be for those areas.” So thank you in advance for that explanation.

Quick math time...

I’m not going to invest a lot of time this evening while I am writing this to do research but from memory the earth is 24,000 miles in circumference and we know that the greatest distance then that could be a difference would be 12,000 miles closer to the sun at the equator that at the poles, can we agree on that?

What is the loss per thousand...

So how much heat and light is lost from the sun per 1,000 miles is it one degree , ten, fifteen or maybe twenty? Fifteen x 12 = 180 so that might be a little high. The other way we could go is divide the 150 by and 12 and that would give us 12.5 ; is 12.5 degrees loss in temperature per 1,000 miles the right number?

How hot is the sun...

Just how hot is the heat we are getting when it leaves the sun? According to google the temperature of the sun is 5,778 Kelvin so that converts to 9,940.73 degrees Fahrenheit. So there is quite a temperature loss from the sun to the earth. The highest temperature ever recorded on earth was 134.1 degrees in California, why wasn’t that highest temperature recorded at the equator?

Eager to learn...

See there is just so much I don’t know that I am eager to learn about when it comes to planet earth. Someday I might just learn it.
Until next time,
@sultnpapper


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The biggest difference is the angle of inclination of the earth relative to the sun. The earth doesn't rotate perfectly perpendicular to the sun, the axis of rotation is inclined. That difference, and the annual orbit into and out of the inclination is responsible for the seasons.

We get almost 0 direct heat from the sun. What we have is radiant heat when the light bounces off of dirt or clouds or, in the case of the poles, ice. Dirt does a WAY better job of converting light energy into heat than ice does. The sunlight simply reflects off the shiner surfaces (includes water) and often bounces up to convert in the atmosphere on the bottom of clouds. Atmospheric heating which is far more general than localized heating. It's also why sitting in the shade is cooler than in the sun. If the heat came directly from the sun it would be the same, shade or sun.

So. I live unfortunately close to that spot in Colliefornya where that temperature was recorded. I can tell you that Death Valley is a generally very warm spot. I truly love the place in December, not so much now.

I am out most every morning when the sun comes up. I note the spot where it rises relative to where I am every day. It's now much closer to due east than it had been a month ago. On the solstice there is a prominent gap in the mountains directly east of my location. On solstice day the sun rises in that gap. It's on the south facing slope of the gap now.

Good questions. I hope I gave some good answers. I'm sure there are others that will come in here and make things more clear.

I think you gave some good answers , I just don't know that I can comprehend it, that 94 million miles of distance between the earth ad the sun keeps clogging my brain. I have noticed you are up real early every morning. You deliver papers or milk?

I made a post for the Winter Solstice that included an animated GIF image that might help to explain it...

Solstice.gif

You can read a little more about it in the post if you like:
https://steemit.com/holidays/@thekittygirl/i-wish-you-cheer-c-tiffany-e-reed

The phenomenon is caused by the tilt of the Earth's axis! 🙂

I appreciate the little gif showing how they say it works, but I have a hard time believing that a slight change in the angle of 23.5 degrees can make such a big difference, the sun is supposed to be 94 million miles from the earth, I have serious doubts that such a slight angle would have that dramatic effect. It might make a big difference if the sun was only like 3 or 4 thousand miles from the earth, but at 94 million miles that is like 0.000127 closer the angled portion of the earth would be to the sun than if the earth was perpendicular to the sun. I have a hard time buying into that theory.

It is too early in the morning for me to get into all that scientific talk, @sultnpapper! I need another coffee before I tackle that one. Summer has gone too quickly and it just seems it got started. I miss the long summer evenings we got in the north. Here we have about 12hours daylight every day, give or take a half hour according to the season. So basically from 5:30 am to 5:30 pm. So I really miss when it was daylight until 9:30 or 10:00 pm in Canada. Used to get a lot more accomplished than I do now. The artificial light just is not the same. It was cool this morning here ~ 25C or 77F which signals almost the end of rainy season and time for the cooler trade winds.

Yes, I don't know what the hell I was thinking but I don't buy into these theories about the angle of the earth to the sun making the big difference in the temperatures, I can see it for the amount of light and darkness but not so much on temps.

I was just talking about this with my MIL. The days are surely getting shorter! It’s very obvious and it’s so crazy how fast time passes by now. I feel like there is not enough time in a day to get your basic tasks taken care of.

This Summer went by way too fast!! I feel like it was only 2 weeks of Summer! 😄

yep , I think it might be a conspiracy to deprive us of our natural vitamin D from the sunlight.

That’s what it seems like!

Goodness - all those figures! My brain is too tired to cope. I agree that this summer has gone by in a flash. I thought it was just us in Scotland feeling that way. We had such a long winter too - I can hardly believe the darkness is coming back so soon. I love autumn, but I think by December I'll be feeling the need for more light and sunshine.

I like autumn as a season but I just wish it came with more daylight hours.

Oh yes, totally!

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