Skip main navigation

Summer and winter solstice

Summer and winter solstice is discussed.
Sun is rising
© Photo by David Chapman
When preparing sun analysis in climatic models, the summer and winter solstice are often used in simulations. The reason is that these are the days in the year, which have either the longest, or the shortest day in terms of daylight.

The summer solstice is when the Earth’s poles reaches its maximal tilt towards the sun, which occurs during summer. In the Northern hemisphere, the summer solstice is between 20 and 22 June, and in the Southern hemisphere it is between 20 and 23 December. The summer solstice marks the longest day and the shortest night at a place.

The winter solstice is the opposite of the summer solstice, and occurs when the Earth’s poles reaches its maximal tilt away from the sun. In the Northern hemisphere, the winter solstice is between 21 and 23 December, and in the Southern hemisphere between 20 and 23 June. The winter solstice marks the shortest day and the longest night at a place.

This article is from the free online

Placemaking and Public Space Design: Unlocking Design Potential

Created by
FutureLearn - Learning For Life

Reach your personal and professional goals

Unlock access to hundreds of expert online courses and degrees from top universities and educators to gain accredited qualifications and professional CV-building certificates.

Join over 18 million learners to launch, switch or build upon your career, all at your own pace, across a wide range of topic areas.

Start Learning now