So I was looking at google maps while working because of course I was. I’m not even kidding when I say that I was wondering if there’s some nice place far enough south to experience 18+ hours of sunlight and nice weather in the southern summer as we do here in the northern summer in Estonia. But when I took a look, the closest thing would be the southernmost tip of Chile, which apparently is pretty cold in the (southern hemisphere) summer. And just a few more degrees south, we have Antarctica. Here, you go a few more degrees north and you just get Finland.
I was wondering what the reasoning is - is it something inherent to the Earth’s orbit around the sun, or is it due to the shapes of the continents, the ocean currents, etc?
Edit: Many great answers here. Thank you!
While the North and South poles match the planet’s axis of spin. If you’re comparing differences in latitude, you’re looking at it as if the Earth were spinning around a vertical point between the poles, but the planet itself is tilted 23.5° compared to the solar plane. Plus we’re in an elliptical orbit, not circular, and that axis of tilt also wobbles about from the pull of not only the Sun but also the gas giants in our solar system like Saturn and Jupiter, and of course the Moon which also gives us our regular tides.
There’s a lot of factors that go into orbital mechanics. All of which result in our planet having widely varying tidal forces, distinct seasons, but still resulting in an overall stable and balanced ecosystem.