Seasonal variations in temperature are due primarily to which two orbital factors?

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BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

Question restatement: Seasonal variations in temperature are due primarily to which two orbital factors?

Option a) rotation and revolution: Rotation refers to Earth spinning on its axis, which governs day and night, and revolution is the orbit around the Sun. While both are fundamental to geography and the calendar, they do not by themselves cause the seasonal temperature differences; seasons arise from how sunlight is distributed across the year, not merely from spinning or orbiting.

Option b) rotation and sphericity: Rotation, as above, affects day length, and sphericity (the Earth being roughly spherical) is a geometric property rather than a dynamic factor that varies sunlight distribution in a seasonal cycle. This pairing does not explain seasonal temperature changes well, since sphericity alone doesn’t account for the tilt-related radiation pattern.

Option c) axial tilt and axial parallelism: Axial tilt is the angle between the Earth’s axis and its orbital plane, which changes how sunlight falls on hemispheres through the year, producing seasons. Axial parallelism refers to the idea that the tilt direction remains nearly fixed relative to the stars as the Earth orbits (the tilt orientation does not wobble significantly), reinforcing the seasonal contrast by maintaining consistent sun-angle patterns over the year. Together, these two factors directly govern the intensity and duration of sunlight across seasons, making this option the correct explanation.

Option d) rotation and axial tilt: While axial tilt is a key factor, pairing rotation with axial tilt omits the crucial concept of how the tilt’s orientation relative to the orbit (axial parallelism) contributes to the seasonal distribution of sunlight. Thus, this combination is incomplete for explaining the full seasonal cycle.

Summary of reasoning across options: The core mechanism behind seasons is the varying solar incidence due to how tilted the axis is and how that tilt maintains its orientation as Earth travels around the Sun. Rotation alone affects daily heating and night-length, but not the yearly tilt-driven pattern. Sphericity is a geometric property and does not drive seasonal temperature shifts. The two orbital factors that best capture the seasonal contrast are axial tilt and axial parallelism, which together explain why summers are warmer and winters are colder in respective hemispheres.

Seasonal variations in temperature are due primarily to which two orbital factors?

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