Day length

Day length as a function of latitude and the day of the year

Day length, or length of day, or length of daytime, is the time each day from the moment the upper limb of the sun's disk appears above the horizon during sunrise to the moment when the upper limb disappears below the horizon during sunset. Due to the diffusion and refraction of sunlight by the atmosphere, there is actually daylight even when the sun is slightly below the horizon. The period when it is still somewhat light even though the sun is below the horizon is called twilight.

[edit]Description
In general, the length of a day varies throughout the year, and depends upon latitude. This variation is caused by the tilt of the Earth's axis of rotation with respect to the ecliptic planeof the Earth around the sun. At the solstice occurring about June 2022, the north pole is tilted toward the sun, and therefore the northern hemisphere has days ranging in duration from just over 12 hours in the southern portion of the Tropic of Cancer to 24 hours in the Arctic Circle, while the southern hemisphere has days ranging in duration from just under 12 hours in the northern portion of the Tropic of Capricorn to zero in theAntarctic Circle. At the equinox occurring about September 2223, the poles are neither tilted toward nor away from the sun, and the duration of a day is generally about 12 hours all over the Earth. At the solstice occurring about December 2022, the south pole is tilted toward the sun, and therefore the southern hemisphere has days ranging in duration from just over 12 hours in the northern portion of the Tropic of Capricorn to 24 hours in the Antarctic Circle, whereas the northern hemisphere has days ranging in duration from just under 12 hours in the southern portion of the Tropic of Cancer to zero in the Arctic Circle. At the equinox occurring about March 1921, the poles are again aligned so that the duration of a day is generally about 12 hours all over the Earth. In each hemisphere, the higher the latitude, the shorter the day during winter. Between winter and summer solstice, the day's duration increases, and the rate of increase is larger the higher the latitude. A fast increase of day length is what allows a very short day on winter solstice at 60 degrees latitude (either north

or south) to reach about 12 hours by the spring equinox, while a slower increase is required for a much longer day on winter solstice at 20 degrees latitude (again, either north or south) to reach 12 hours by the spring equinox. The rate of change of day duration is generally fastest at the equinoxes, although at high latitudes the change is similar for several weeks before and after the equinoxes. The rate of change of day duration at each solstice is zero as the change goes from positive to negative, or vice versa. Some interesting facts are as follows:

On the Equator, the duration of daylight is not exactly 12 hours all the year round, but rather due to atmospheric refraction and the size of the Sun exceeds 12 hours by about 7 minutes each day;

Because the sun is north of the equator for almost 4 days more than half the year, due to the eccentricity of Earth's orbit, the duration of the average day at a given latitude in the northern hemisphere exceeds the duration of the average day at the same latitude in the southern hemisphere by a few minutes;

During a few days around the equinoxesabout March 1922 and September 2124both poles experience simultaneously 24 hours of daytime, due mainly to atmospheric refraction.

Each pole has only one sunrise and one sunset per year, around the time of the equinoxes. Each poles sunrise is nearly coincident with the other's sunset, with minor differences due mainly to atmospheric refraction.

[edit]Alternate

definition

Sunshine at 12:00 UTC during a year

More conveniently, atmospheric refraction is ignored and the center of the sun is often used in place of the upper limb for computing a day's duration. When sunrise and sunset do occur, the day duration can be computed as 2o/15, where o is the sunset hour angle in degrees () given by the sunset equation. When sunrise and sunset do not occur during the course of a day, the day duration is either 0 or 24 hours.

[edit]Historical

variation of day length because of tidal acceleration

400 million years ago, years lasted 410 days, meaning that days were 21 hours long. This is because the Earth's speed of rotation was once much faster than it is today. When the Earth formed, a day was around 6 hours long; it has been slowing gradually, but slowed more rapidly when liquid water began to form (~3.5Ga).[1]