Seasons

Review of the causes of the seasons in the northern and southern hemispheres and impacts of Earth's seasons on daily light cycles and heat input. Includes descriptions of solstices and equinoxes. Designed for an introductory oceanography course at City College of San Francisco.
**This video comes in the middle of the semester, so there may be terms with which the audience is unfamiliar. For a full playlist, refer to the Oceanography playlist on the Earth Rocks! KZbin Channel.
Air-Sea Interactions Series:
Part I: Seasons
Part II: Relative Humidity
Part III: Atmospheric Gases, Heats, and Pressures
Part IV: Atmospheric Circulation
Part V: Weather Phenomena
If you are an earth science enthusiast and would like to support our ongoing video development and engage with us behind the scenes...
Or if you are a student and would like access to interactive lessons built around these videos...
you can do so by JOINING the Earth Rocks! KZbin Channel:
/ @earthrocks .
Thank you!
Additional notes:
The Earth orbits the Sun once every 364.25 days. Every 4 years we have a leap year, where we add an additional day in February to make it up.
The images in this video are not drawn to scale, because to do so, we couldn't see the Earth and Sun in the same image. The Sun is actually 109 times greater in width (diameter) than the Earth. That means that when they were drawn next to each other, the Earth would be 1/109th the height of the Sun. We wouldn't see it on the screen.
The distance between the Earth and the Sun is actually about 23,400 times the Earth's diameter. That means that when drawn next to each other as shown in the top image of the video, the Earth would actually appear smaller than a pin hole (you'd need to line up 23,400 of them next to each other to reach the Sun).
Earth rotates around its own axis once every 23 hours and 56 minutes. It takes another 4 minutes more rotation to face the Sun again. So when we talk about a day = 24 hours, we are really saying the time it takes to return us to facing the Sun. (Technically called a "solar day.") Multiply 4 minutes per day by 1/2 a year and you get about 12 hours. By the time we get to the other side of Earth's orbit, we are about 12 hours rotated from where we were on the other side. The result is that noon always ends up with us almost directly under the Sun depending on where you live in a time zone. We don't notice this 12-hour rotation unless we look at the stars in the sky (the "fixed objects" against which we can see our motion). That's why we see different constellations at night depending on the time of the year.

[@tomm3417]

Every so often, I get to realize that there are still a handful of people on earth that actually know how to explain something and get it exactly right.

[@nirv]

Thank you.

[@dvdortiz9031]

God created this marvelous clockwork!!!

[@halloweenjean]

@@dvdortiz9031sureeeee

[@GSDKXV]

@@dvdortiz9031 clown

[@alicorn3924]

@@dvdortiz9031 yes! this is how all religious people should praise our amazing world! we should not view science as something that wholly contradicts what we've been taught, but rather as something we should admire and appreciate, as it is still Our Lord's greatest creation!

[@gadrri1167]

you have no idea how long this question has been at the back of my head, it all makes sense now...thank you

[@EarthRocks]

Yay! I'm so glad I could help. :)

[@sanjukta7452]

Noooiii

[@sanjukta7452]

@Lauren Johnson hey pagal

[@satya7kadiyam]

Me too.. 😊

[@Fortapistone]

@@EarthRocks From what time to what time is it a day of light, or just sun light in south africa? In summer?

[@luckyburger2554]

You learn more in KZbin than in school

[@paulna5526]

That's why teachers don't wan't students to use the internet.

[@Bodynation7]

@@paulna5526 Exactly 😂

[@gujwdhufjijjpo9740]

I learned this in 5th grade

[@sirdavid_lol6310]

oof

[@catwich]

Same

[@mbn9672]

This is actually the only video on youtube that explains seasons clearly! Thank you.

[@rikardrikardsen624]

I learnt in elementary school about 20 years ago we get winter because the planet is further away from the sun, and the teacher never said there was winter down south once summer over here. I'm so mad about all the BS we learnt. At this point in age I know of course earth is tilted, n all that because we get that midnight sun over here + I'm book smart enough to call BS on my childhood education. Just wanted to check out the demonstration video as we just talked about this topic at dinner. Vsauce has a very nice video about how earth and the sun moves together in space. Worth a watch for sure if anyone's interested in the subject.

[@dawoool]

@@rikardrikardsen624 My elementary school 50 years ago got it right. We didn't have any videos like this, but we had books with diagrams that made it clear.

[@m.dewylde5287]

@@dawoool I was in 5th grade (11 years old) when we've learned this the proper way from our books that explained it just like this video does. I don't understand in what country, or what kind of school you would get it wrong.

[@dawoool]

@@m.dewylde5287 A lot of schools teach nonsense today.

[@wildlifewarrior2670]

Then apparently you have not been watching videos

[@P3chcic]

You know, at the time of writing this comment, this video is 7 years old and most likely not many if any people at all are going to see this. I just wanted to say thank You for the information in the video. Just know that it was very helpful to someone somewhere and I truly apperciate that.

[@EarthRocks]

You're welcome. And thanks for the message. :)

[@thesingingchef29]

I saw it!

[@vinayv8791]

Now I correctly understand the summer and wintertime at my place. Perfect explanation for confused people like me.

[@EarthRocks]

Glad it helped!

[@theplacebeyondthelies2429]

I disagree. This is false info packaged with some nice looking graphics which does not align with reality. Earth-Sun relation cannot have 2 rotations happening simultaneously.

[@mathewsotieno1422]

This was very educative .the earth is so complex I am learning new staff each day. Thumbs up to the scientists.

[@theplacebeyondthelies2429]

truth is simple, not complex... complex are the lies of people... This is false info packaged with some nice looking graphics which does not align with reality. Earth-Sun relation cannot have 2 rotations happening simultaneously.

[@newmisaki]

I simply can't thank you enough for this video, you sure are talented. The fact that you can explain all this (EASILY) within 5 1/2 minutes. Again, thank you. I was struggling with a school project and this really eased the stress I was in. Such a simple explanation on a big topic. It really helped.

[@EarthRocks]

So glad it helped you. Lovely compliment. Thanks for passing it along. :)

[@theplacebeyondthelies2429]

I disagree. This is false info packaged with some nice looking graphics which does not align with reality. Earth-Sun relation cannot have 2 rotations happening simultaneously.

[@haticekubragokkus381]

Your amazing! I was having trouble with this topic, and in a mere 5 minutes, you explained it wonderfully! Thank you

[@EarthRocks]

I'm so glad! Thanks for letting me know. :)

[@faal1271]

@@EarthRocks howcome the earths tilt has more significant effect than the distance of 5 millions km differences between the sun the and earth for seasonal changes?

[@Mine4062]

@@faal1271 Good quesrion! Its not about the distance from the sun (though that does slightly affect the severity of the seasons) but rather about how much sunlight is actually hitting an area at a given time. The distance does lightly affect the temperature. This would mean that the Southern hemispheres summers would be much hotter than the Northern. However, because the Southern Hemisphere is mainly water, it takes more heat to raise its temperature so the difference on average is negligible.

[@factorial_zero8642]

​@@Mine4062 nice explanation brother 🎉

[@jimnora1705]

Many flat Earthers were injured in the making of this video.

[@airtime89410]

Great video. Used it today homeschooling the kids. They were wondering why it is spring in November in Australia where we are traveling while it is Fall back home in Nevada.

[@SpottedSharks]

Earth's rotation really makes my day.

[@EarthRocks]

Ha! Me too. :)

[@lindsaybauman4512]

Excellent video! I have been so frustrated because I feel like I've always been on the verge of having a basic understanding of the seasons and why/how they happen, but have always been missing the pieces that would have tied everything together. This video really helped me to fit the puzzle pieces together!

[@tzikhan5546]

The path of the sun in southern hemisphere is opposite of northern. Here in new zealand, the sun follows a wider arc in summer and smaller arc in winter. The other in northenr hemisphere. This path of the sun does not work in this model of this video. The reality of sun’s path seems to fit more if the earth is a plane and the sun travels in and out from the north pole as the middle of the plane.

[@tzikhan5546]

Spoiler alert

[@sailorman8668]

@@tzikhan5546 Are you one of these deluded and ignorant flat earth believing fools?

[@spwb2k]

very cool. I moved from bright lights city to dark skies country last year and have become obsessed with the stars.

[@hazri8758]

Greetings from the equator. Here, the sun is a deadly laser.

[@pizzazpaz822]

Greetings from a tiny city island also on the equator!

[@davidprocha7708]

Accurate

[@muhammadamaar7936]

K lol 😂

[@mazeh905]

Greetings from a country near the equator

[@erikpeterson8640]

Greetings from Northern Canada and the sun is deadly reflecting off the ice

[@user-pd8wg1rt7w]

8 years ago in South Africa there was a boy getting ready to write his final examination in matric on Geography, he wasn't good at science and his marks where hanging on to dear life, and it all came down to geography. So he studied and studied and he came across this very same video, but he ignored it because what are the odds of this being asked in the paper, Question 5.2.1 what season is in the Southern hemisphere during September😂😂, long story short i passed my exams and guess what job i chose, a geography teacher. So every now and then when its time to teach about this very same topic, i just open youtube look for this very same video and let you work your magic. Works everytime

[@EarthRocks]

What a fabulous story. Thank you for sharing it! Makes my day. ❤️

[@fasx56]

Very well done video delivering the maximum amount of information in a precise and manner that was easy to understand. Hats off to the Director and Narrator for the detailed research with a lot of moving parts. In this video format one can watch as many times as necessary.

[@kulturfreund6631]

I also find the video very enjoyable and useful. The only thing that could have been mentioned and and briefly shown is the real sizes ratio and distance between Sun and Earth. - That’s what most people still don’t have a clue about. It’s proportionate to a half inch marble orbiting a two feet ball at an average distance of 55 meters.

[@sreekeerthidonipati9741]

After 20 yrs I'm getting a clarity about this topic .. Thank you💜

[@geoffgrigg]

That was an excellent video. One of the very few around that do the topic justice. Certainly the best of its kind. Congratulations, you rock!

[@theplacebeyondthelies2429]

I disagree. This is false info packaged with some nice looking graphics which does not align with reality. Earth-Sun relation cannot have 2 rotations happening simultaneously.

[@heyitsme1534]

Crazy how perfect our planet is

[@ShahidKhan-bx1hp]

Great video. Now I know why exactly day never ends during summers in countries and locations near arctic circle.

[@martincoates9048]

What an amazing video, well done for the excellent use of language and imagery. I finally understand the seasons, and I’m 60 years old - thank you !

[@ylmazbarserkan2307]

Hey I had always trouble understanding these completely. Now I have clearer mind, thank you!

[@ammarakbar4510]

Me too but this was so helpful

[@theplacebeyondthelies2429]

I disagree. This is false info packaged with some nice looking graphics which does not align with reality. Earth-Sun relation cannot have 2 rotations happening simultaneously.

[@brownbreadcomix]

the best video with best animation where you can actually see what is happening and why

[@VaibhavYawalkar]

This is my go to video for quick revision of earth sun cosmic interactions.

[@nethminavodya4136]

I am a Sri Lankan. I can understand easily this lesson. Thank you

[@EarthRocks]

You are welcome

[@MrAviranshahino]

That was the first time i truly understand that. Thank you for sharing

[@EarthRocks]

You are so welcome

[@dawoool]

Great animation. Every kid should see this.

[@mikeandone]

Absolutelly amazing explanation and very educational and interesting!!.. Thanks!👍👍😊

[@Itsnotavailable]

The illustration is what i was wondering about i already knew about the opposite seasons on each hemisphere. im a visual learner 😎 thank you!

[@sigurdkaputnik7022]

Thanks for this great explanation video. I might add, that this is only possible because earth is a sphere. A flat earth would not have different seasons.

[@kurtsalm2155]

This was explained to me in a 5th grade science class in the '60's. People graduating from high school today don't understand this. Really freaking sad!

[@arnoio8355]

yeah, and back then you didn't have to sell organs to pay for college, and teachers didn't have to work two jobs to pay for living.

[@DeepThinker_6597]

Very true

[@mariamyoussef103]

I never guessed that all we need to understand this topic is 5:39 minutes. Amazing job, thanks a million

[@LeonardoDaVinci01]

Learned about this in school, fascinating!!

[@johnholme783]

Brilliant visual aid for somebody like myself with poor concentration. Now I understand it completely. Well done!

[@mohamedsenharshan3016]

Finally I found a channel that explains the season clearly!!!!!

[@puck1940]

I'm 38 and the surprise quiz at the end still gave me anxiety.

[@ghulamahmad8954]

Very informative Vedo to understand the phenomenon of day and night, and change of seasons.

[@MarcosSilva-hl1hn]

Very good ! Excellent video. In this explanation it's very easy to understand.

[@opveryop3990]

None of my school teacher never taught or explain me about how earth rotate the sun like this video did ... It's been 12 years of my school life and I got to understand about this only today ... Wish I could learn all these things ,be a teacher and teach primary students

[@opveryop3990]

Like this....

[@pavel9652]

Cheer up! Some adults still don't get it and even worse, there are some who think Earth is flat! ;)

[@pchebbi]

Excellent visual guide! Crystal clear explanation! Thank you.

[@tinaphipps4300]

Thank you so much for the information. It helps all of us understand global warming areas and times of the year.

[@pragyasharma1409]

I wish i had fast utube earlier when I was in school i could have learnt more than school

[@btechbachelors1319]

Super I'm loving your explaination

[@pilotandy_com]

It would be neat to see the moons orbital path in there also. In summer in the northern hemisphere, the moon moves from southeast to southwest (short) then in winter, the sun and moon switch, and you could say the northern hemisphere gets more moon light, as it goes from northeast to northwest.

[@mbn9672]

Does the moon orbit also have an effect on the seasons?

[@mal74]

@@mbn9672 No, the Moon only effects the tides. Also the Moon does not orbit directly over the equator so it's position in the sky varies greatly.

[@mbn9672]

@@mal74 thanks for the reply, although you are a year late haha

[@ahmadharess2211]

I like the sound of the narrator's voice and her ability to explain.

[@briandaclac9721]

Simply explained and very informative!

[@alchandeck6471]

This was very well explained! Last week I was debating with a friend of mine that claimed that sun rays always hit perpendicularly in the Equator line. I argued that due to the tilt of Earth's axis with respect to the orbit around the sun, that didn't make sense. He quickly googled something to prove himself right, and read it to me while I was driving. So, I accepted it. But, it never quite made sense. Today, I decided to look for seasons' explanations, and came across this video. As it turns out, this video proved my argument. My conclusion from your video: The “parallel” where the sun rays hit perpendicularly moves periodically like a pendulum between -23.5 deg to +23.5 deg of latitude (a.k.a. between the tropics), with the middle point of the pendulum's trajectory being the 0 deg latitude -- a.k.a. the Equator line (“parallel”). This "pendulum" would have a period of T = 1 year.

[@katrynwiese190]

Indeed, you are correct! Yay!

[@tysonsmudfossiladventures3468]

Your upsetting the flat earthers hahahahahaha

[@AnnaMargolin]

I don't understand how anyone can dislike this video. What do they object to, the tilt of the earth?

[@pavel9652]

Flatheads ;)

[@maxwellelias5712]

Great video! Very useful information! Thank you very much, it helped me a lot!

[@abedabedms3144]

This is perfectly explained and clear.

[@Arindam_Deka]

Thanks for this amazing explanation.

[@simarjasssekhon9165]

Thanks youtube and thanks earth rocks

[@heeyyyy1662]

One of the most helpful videos on KZbin EVER! Thank you so much, you saved me a headache 😂

[@Notagity]

this video is so amazing it explains absolutely everything perfectly

[@theplacebeyondthelies2429]

I disagree. This is false info packaged with some nice looking graphics which does not align with reality. Earth-Sun relation cannot have 2 rotations happening simultaneously.

[@shilpijaisawal9341]

Good Morning Mam.😊 Ans are:- 1- 12 2- 24 hours 3-Fall 4-Tropic of capricorn

[@ronnytain]

This is the video I was looking for, very well explained 👌🏼

[@wootle]

The best explanation I have seen on this topic. How can and why do people dislike stuff like this?

[@ColinSemple]

By far the best video on this topic. Having the circle on the Earth showing the most intense sun helped wrap my head around things.

[@AubaidAhmadWaniGCET--]

This video has cleared my confusion which was created in my childhood

[@katecamelot5274]

After 9 years,still perfect!

[@thanosapokapouallou1325]

302 dishlikes mmmm damn you flat earthers!

[@Cat_in_Spacetime]

579

[@talkbenthemonkenoodle4445]

588

[@rukaiaafrin3520]

@@talkbenthemonkenoodle4445 594

[@RealZanzi]

634

[@mohamedsaleem1104]

690

[@merabharatmahan8420]

This video really solved all my doubts and diagrams helped me for easy understanding

[@rickorider]

An excellent visual instruction! I see exactly now how the equinox works in March and September

[@creativemindlego7752]

😘

[@theplacebeyondthelies2429]

I disagree. This is false info packaged with some nice looking graphics which does not align with reality. Earth-Sun relation cannot have 2 rotations happening simultaneously.

[@klngouthamisuma]

Thank you for the information. It was so helpful. ❤️ I could understand it so much better in just 5 mins because of this video

[@canuckdybdahl]

Plain simple and easy to understand..

[@wanirayees6311]

This video cleared a lot of confusions in my mind. So, it compelled me to admire your efforts in making this video, and elucidating the things in easy way as possible. Thanks a ton!

[@lorainelundall7916]

Thank you for your video, My children as homes choolers understood the topic seasons much better now.

[@hannesswart4827]

It is a lay

[@jakehanifee8856]

Thank you for your concise explanation that was remarkably easy to understand. Well done.

[@enduropancenoye]

Simply educating.. Good job !

[@GianniFlashhh]

simply globetarding

[@Pizzafan622]

@@GianniFlashhh psst... you forgot the evidence...

[@maskedm3owllin68]

I liked this video and scrolled down to the comments and wanting to give it another like just to realise i already liked it, Thank you this was very amazing indeed

[@mrconfused6644]

Omg thank you so much, this was very helpful

[@dionysus2006]

Very clearly explained

[@richyearle007]

An excellent video..I'm guessing the Flat Earth society, will either not comprehend this video, or alternatively ,have heart failure..

[@fromnorway643]

They already have a collective _brain_ failure!

[@mskhanmskhan425]

Close to perfection to understanding 🙏

[@despizedicon]

It's simply videos like this that make a round planet more understood.

[@alexisalidis9037]

This video answered everything that I dint know yet, thanks for the help.

[@heronimousbrapson863]

It actually takes only 23 hours and 56 minutes for the earth to rotate once on its axis. 24 hours is the average length of time between successive solar noons, which is a bit longer than the time taken for one revolution.

[@nikiwiki2006]

Tubmaster 5000 But it is true. Sidereal days aren’t quite 24 Hrs.

[@michaelslee4336]

How many bets do you reckon I’ve won with this question? Answer..heaps

[@ericsumma7654]

True, true. 23 hrs, 56 min and 4+ sec for the stars to make one circuit, 24 hrs for the sun averaged over a year. And the small difference in time between these periods relates to the angular distance the Earth has traveled around the sun in that day. Since one definition of a year is one complete orbit around the sun, all of these small differences will add up to one extra 'complete' revolution of the Earth per year. X days times 24 hours, equals (X+1) revolutions times 23 hours, 56 minutes, 4+ seconds. My favorite way to determine the number of days in a year.

[@brainstormingsharing1309]

Absolutely well done and definitely keep it up!!! 👍👍👍👍👍

[@kprajesh7893]

amazing explanation thank you so much.

[@davinashell9040]

i have been trying to understand this all semester! FINALLY you game me my "eureka"! moment ! Thank you sooo much

[@hamishwalker697]

Great video man

[@silentbob1349]

Yeah my knowledge in my big brain is increasing, I wonder if the Minecraft earth has the same rotations

[@latenightlogic]

That last part about an endless summer - coming from someone who lives in Townsville - sounds like literally hell on earth.

[@deepshikhaDeka97]

Thanks a lot..it was really helpful.

[@idratherbflying]

You must be a really good teacher to explain this well ! Great Video 👍🙌

[@shimmyshimmy96]

Greetings from the Tropic of Capricorn.

[@MeeMee-gz5vp]

This is one of the best explanations on YT

[@silentbob1349]

Bruh I learnt so much from this, keep it up my guy :D

[@jackt175]

its a girl doe...

[@RADRICK19]

I've never understood this. I'm 48 yrs old and today I finally do. Thank you Now I just need to figure out where I can travel to on the southern hemisphere so I can live in the fall 12 months a yr. 😁🎃

[@domenicesposito3324]

Excellent explanation

[@alexandratheavenger3436]

Thank you for this simple but thorough explanation!

[@v.j.thomas3708]

Excellent information

[@lordnprabhu]

Its so fantastic. Learned a lot from the video. The animation/graphics part is amazing.

[@jaykumar-wf7qo]

Excellent presentation! Thank you so much...

[@UPSCaimIAS2024]

amazing lesson, I wish I had a teacher like this during geography classes in school. Thanks a lot

[@bhoopalsinghRoheria]

Best video as far as I watched

[@pankhurikarn769]

Wow greatly explained

[@RC-no1qb]

Thank u ...from tamilnadu

[@nandinisoni5799]

It has helped me that I am a week in geography but it makes me understand the whole chapter