How hot would the poles get during summer if the Earth's axis tilted 90 degrees?

Discussion in 'Miscellaneous' started by We3_MPO, Feb 17, 2018.

  1. I like to study all kinds of absurd scenarios, but because I'm very interested in climate and weather, I'm particularly interested to know how hot the poles would get during summer in this kind of situation, and how cold the equator would get around the solstices.

    From what I have heard, the poles would be hotter both on average and at the maximum than the equator, but the poles would still likely get as cold as they do during Winter (but the summer heat would melt the glaciers), and the equator would still probably get as hot as it does during March, April, September, and October.

    So, the months would probably behave as follows at and near the equator:
    1. January: Would be one of the two coldest months slightly north of the equator, and one of the two second coldest months slightly south of it. The sun would be near the horizon in the southern sky as Antarctica baked under direct sunlight.
    2. February: Would likely be like a short Spring in this situation.
    3. March: Would be one of the four hottest months. The days would be about twelve hours long, and on the Vernal equinox, the sun would be directly overhead at noon.
    4. April: Would be one of the four hottest months. The days would be about twelve hours long.
    5. May: Would likely be like a short Autumn in this situation.
    6. June: Would be one of the two coldest months slightly south of the equator, and one of the two second coldest months slightly north of it. The sun would be near the horizon in the northern sky as the Arctic baked under direct sunlight. On the June solstice, the sun would stay on the horizon to the north.
    7. July: Would be one of the two coldest months slightly south of the equator, and one of the two second coldest months slightly north of it. The sun would be near the horizon in the northern sky as the Arctic baked under direct sunlight.
    8. August: Would likely be a short Spring in this situation.
    9. September: Would be one of the four hottest months. The days would be about twelve hours long, and on the Autumnal equinox, the sun would be directly overhead at noon.
    10. October: Would be one of the four hottest months. The days would be about twelve hours long.
    11. November: Would likely be like a short Autumn in this situation.
    12. December: Would be one of the two coldest months slightly north of the equator, and one of the two second coldest months slightly south of it. The sun would be near the horizon in the southern sky as Antarctica baked under direct sunlight. On the December solstice, the sun would stay on the horizon to the south.


    So, the months would probably behave as follows at and near the North Pole (for the South Pole, simply reverse these unless stated otherwise):
    1. January: Very dark and frigid.
    2. February: Very dark and about as cold as the current polar regions.
    3. March: On March 19 (earlier as you get further from the North Pole), the sun would slowly rise, but it would still be very cold due to the fact that there was no sun to warm the poles up.
    4. April: Early April would probably still be cold due to the polar night, but it would probably warm up very rapidly and be warm by late April.
    5. May: It would continue to warm up, as the sun got higher and higher above the polar sky and the midnight sun got closer and closer to the Equator. It would probably be extremely hot during the second half of May.
    6. June: On June 20, the sun would be directly overhead for the North Pole. June would likely be inherently dangerous due to the heat. ([Arctic only] It would probably be getting extremely humid due to there being an entire ocean to evaporate from, and extremely hot air to hold lots of moisture.)
    7. July: The sun wouldn't be quite as high in the sky as in June, but it'd still be very high, and likely yet hotter than June due to the lack of nighttime.
    8. August: Probably not much hotter than July because while the sun would still be out 24/7, it would be lower in the sky than before. Temperatures would probably start to drop by late August, but humidity will have (Arctic only) likely climbed to extreme levels.
    9. September: The sun would slowly set on September 21 (later as you get further from the North Pole), and as it cooled off (once again, Arctic only), the air would no longer be able to hold on to the moisture, so there would likely be a very dense fog and very heavy rain during Autumn.
    10. October: The air would no longer be able to hold on to the moisture, so there would likely be a very dense fog and very heavy rain during Autumn. This would likely be the Arctic flood season and Arctic storm season, and when most precipitation would fall.
    11. November: The air would no longer be able to hold on to the moisture, so there would likely be a very dense fog and very heavy rain during Autumn. During a lot of November, it might be cold enough for snow.
    12. December: The sun would be on the opposite side of the Earth on December 20, so it would be very cold and dark.


    How hot do you think the poles would get, and how cold do you think the Equator would get? If you post, please state whether you mean in Fahrenheit, Celsius, or Kelvin.

    Also, I'm not sure if this belongs in Miscellaneous or Controversial. Staff, once you see this, please delete this sentence, and if it belongs in Controversial, please move it there and add [CONTROVERSIAL] to the title.

    EDIT: I can't believe it took me 30 minutes to type all this.

    EDIT 2: I corrected "southern sky" to "northern sky" for June and July under the Equator spoiler. When you copy-paste and forget to make small changes... :/
    neonkillah and SkeleTin007 like this.
  2. I can guarantee that it would still be raining here.
  3. I dont really understand how you would do this, because the poles are a single point and the equator would be a circle, there would still be bits of the equator that would be on the equator.

    I think that when you would suddenly tilt the axis 90 degrees, the temperatures would eventually just become like the current poles and equator are, wiht a little variation because the equator has more land, than the poles so the climate is different.

    However after just swapping I think that it would take quite some time still before the sun has been able to warm up the poles that uaed to be cold and for the warm equator places to cool down enough.

    Im no expert on this though :p
    Patr1cV and We3_MPO like this.
  4. You are talking about Uranus.
    If you read that as something rude then you have a dirty mind.

    The planet Uranus has its axis tilted almost 90 degrees.
    We3_MPO likes this.
  5. The poles possibly might melt and cause the oceans to rise
    We3_MPO likes this.
  6. I know. I didn't read that as something rude; I know exactly what you're talking about, and I think almost all of us do.

    That would happen. The polar summers would be way too hot for the ice caps to stay, and quite possibly hotter than the Sahara, Sonora, and Outback deserts currently get (especially Antarctica since it's a continent and not an ocean).
  7. I am confused now xP. Do you mean that the axis would be horizontal (like that if you would draw a line through it it would pass the other planets in the system), making a certain spot be in the sun for half a year, then not having any sun for half a year?
    Because that would make your blood boil and freeze your toes off, I guess.
    Patr1cV and We3_MPO like this.
  8. Basically. Those certain spots being the North and South Poles. Not half a year for whole hemispheres, but on June 20 (North) and December 20 (South). Although for the poles, it would be half a year at a time, from March 19 to September 21 for the North Pole, and of course, the other way around for the South Pole.
    haastregt likes this.
  9. You might not realise but currently the whole world has half a year of being in the sun and half a year in the shade, however it is divided into 365 portions of each. However north of the arctic circle (and south of the antarctic circle) days become so short in winter the sun doesn't rise and in summer the days get so long the sun doesn't set. At the poles the sun doesn't set for 6 months then doesn't rise for the next six months.
    We3_MPO likes this.
  10. I do know that. But if Earth titled 45 degrees, the polar circles and equatorial tropics would border each other directly; anything more, and the temperate latitudes would be where they overlapped. If it reached 90 degrees, the tropics would extend to the poles and the polar circles would extend to the equator.
  11. Additionally, the summer heat that the poles would face in that kind of situation would cause the polar ice caps to melt, which would cause the following countries and dependencies to lose most or all of their land (let me know if I left out any):
    1. The Netherlands
    2. Denmark (excluding Greenland)
    3. Qatar
    4. Bahrain
    5. Florida (U.S.)
    6. Delaware (U.S.)
    7. Maldives
    8. Marshall Islands
    9. Kiribati
    10. Tahiti
    11. Singapore
    12. Bangladesh
    13. Barbuda (Antigua and Barbuda)
    14. Monaco
    15. Vatican City
    16. This would also wipe out most of Central Valley in California (U.S.), the Gulf and Atlantic coasts of the U.S, the narrow coastal strip on which most Australians live, and turn Ireland, the U.K, and Antarctica into more of archipelagos.
    17. The Caspian Sea would no longer be an inland sea (which would vastly expand it in size) due to this, and a huge bay would form into the Southeastern U.S. (out of what is now the Mississippi River Plain) that would cause Arkansas and Tennessee to no longer be landlocked states.
    18. This would also disconnect North America from Central America and South America, and Africa from Eurasia and the Arabian Subcontinent.
    TL;DR: The resulting sea level rise from the melted polar ice caps would be wildly catastrophic on most of our eight continents.
  12. You also need to consider the holes in the ozone above the poles, this will let through more of the suns energy than through the atmosphere currently at the equator.