What would happen to the seasons if earth's axis tilted in the opposite direction?

Answer 1

Short Answer:

Earth would not have seasons as we know them if the axis of the Earth did not tilt.

Supporting Material:

We experience seasons because of the tilt of Earth's axis, about 23 degrees, relative to the ecliptic plane. The ecliptic plane is the plane that contains the earth's orbit around the sun. The earth's rotational axis, the single line we often refer to as the north and south poles, sticks through this plane. If it stuck square through the ecliptic like a plumb line on earth's surface, that is what we refer to as 'no tilt'. But it does not. The axis is 'off' from perpendicular by about 23 degrees. Except at the moments of equinox, one pole or the other is always oriented more toward the sun and therefor receives more direct sunlight.

The Earth has an elliptical orbit around the sun, not a circular one. During summer in the northern hemisphere the Earth is actually farther away from the sun, and it is closest to the sun during winter in the north. But this difference is a few percent and does not affect climate to any great degree. See the link below.

If the Earth's axis were not tilted relative to the ecliptic, at the equator the sun would be at zenith, exactly overhead, each day at solar noon. This is not the case in the real world now. Now, the farther north or south you go from the equator, the lower the elevation of the sun is when it reaches its highest point, called transit.

If there were no tilt, that elevation at transit would never change for a given latitude. So, if the tilt were zero, wherever you happen to be, the climate would not change over the course of a year. Even if there were no tilt and no seasons, the Earth would be hottest at the equator, and the climate would get gradually cooler as you move north or south from the equator.

Answer 2

The Earth is not "tilted on its axis".

The Earth's axis makes an angle of about 66.5° with the plane of its solar orbit.

If that angle were 90° then there would be no seasons, and periods of daylight

and darkness would be constant in duration throughout the year.

Answer 3

If the Earth's axis of rotation were perpendicular to the plane of its orbit around the sun, then . . .

-- There would be no seasons.

-- The general climate at any place on Earth would be strongly connected to its latitude ...

its distance from the equator. At any latitude, the climate would be relatively constant

all year around. Closer to the equator = hotter. Farther from the equator = colder.

-- At every point on the equator, the sun would be directly overhead at noon every day.

The sun would never be directly overhead anywhere else on Earth.

-- There would be no change in the length of daylight and darkness during the year.

-- Every day, at every place on Earth, the sun would be up for 12 hours and down for 12 hours.

How high it got at noon would directly depend on your latitude.

-- At the north and south poles, the sun would sit at the horizon, half above it and

half below it, and just go around and around the horizon once a day, never getting

any higher or lower.
There wouldn'e be any seasons. Without seasons, the weather would be boringly routine. Without environmental stress, life may not have evolved.
The fact that the axial tilt is the primary factor in the seasons is made clear (at least for those who live in the Northern Hemisphere) when you realize the Earth is actually closest to the Sun in early January.

If the Earth was not tilted, there would essentially be no seasons, or at most only a very mild variation.
there wouldnt be any.

Answer 4

Every thing would be the same. The seasons, and the order of the seasons, would be the same. The only difference would be that the seasons would be 1/2 year out of phase from their current timing, meaning that when it is winter with a normal axis tilt, it would be summer with a reverse axis tilt.

Answer 5

"Vertical", compared to what? To the plane of the ecliptic, which is the plane of the Earth's orbit around the Sun? If the Earth had no axial tilt, there would be no seasons, and the Sun would be perpetually on the horizon at the north and south poles.

Answer 6

because the earth is tilted, the sun's rays today hits more directly at either the northern or Southern Hemisphere at different times of the year.

If the earth had no tilt, the sun's rays would always hit the equator directly and each place on earth would get the same amount of direct light every day of the year. It would be hottest at the equator and coldest at the poles (like on our earth today), but the difference would be that the temperatures would be gradually colder from the equator to the poles and climate would not change.

A 40 deg northern latitude the climate would be the same as 40 deg southern latitude and at 29 deg northern latitude would have same climate as 29 deg southern latitude (in principle).

We would not have season changes as the sun would always produce the same amount of directly sun light to each place every day of the year.

Answer 7

All places would have greater extremes in temperature from warmer in the summer to cooler in the winter then it is now. It would affect the daylight received on any particular day compared to the current situation and more places torward the poles would have more days of darkness and days without darkness each year compared to current.

Answer 8

The seasons would not have as much variation in temperature. But the temperatures at various latitudes would be more severe than what we experience now. Hot climates would be hotter and cold climates would be colder, with less variation from minimum to maximum temperatures in the region. The Earth's inclination (tilt) is 23.5°. Examine the following explanation I have for extreme situations, one with 35°, one with 0° and one with 90° inclination.

If the Earth's inclination were 35° the seasons would be more severe. Areas around the equator would be the best places to live. In the latitudes father away from the equator, colder winters would be the most prominent change. Our current arctic and antarctic circle latitudes are at about 66½°. This change would drop them to 55° latitude. A significant portion of he world would be in a very hard environment to live in, but overall the earth would be habitable. There are two other conditions that would have extreme ramifications, if the Earth had no tilt and if it was tilted with a pole pointing towards the sun continuously.

With an inclination of 0°, the seasons would not change. The equatorial region would probably not be habitable. The temperate zones would be much narrower. The arctic regions would as the equatorial region be much more severe in its temperature range. Without seasonal change, the equatorial region would get to a very high temperature on a constant basis and the arctic regions would become much bigger and settle into a constant subfreezing condition. That would leave us with a much more narrow temperate zone. I would say that the easily habitable regions of the planet would lie between 35° and 55° latitudes, north and south, which if you look at a world map, cuts out about 70% of the currently habitable space. The last scenario is the worst of all.

If the rotational axis, lets say the north pole of the earth was pointed directly at the sun (90° inclination), we would be in a situation in which only one side of the planet ever gets sunlight. The other side side, the dark side would be dead due to the extreme cold. The side that faces the sun would have large area that would be perpetually hot, too hot to sustain life. This would leave only a small strip near the equator where the sun supplies enough heat to keep the area habitable. In this area, the sun would always be low in the sky, never setting and never rising. It would be a perpetual sunrise/sunset. Meanwhile, at the pole, which now faces the sun in constant noontime, the heat is tremendous. The Arctic Ocean below would provide water for a massive storm that would be everlasting. This situation would also be true if the Earth was gravitationally locked with one side facing the sun, like the moon is with the Earth.

Answer 9

your season would entirely depend on where you live, at the equator, less of the sun, the further north or south you went, the more sun, colder and at the poles, you would have 24/7 sunlight at the poles, so basically if you had no tilt, life would evolve according to the environment of where it lived. :)

Answer 10

If the Earth didn't tilt on it's axis there would seasoms, but not the seasons known to us. the a Earth had a path around the sun as all planets do, so because of the tilt and the path it gives us seasons like Fall, Winter, Summer, and Spring.