(Climate Question) What if the Earth's 23.45 axial tilt was in the other hemisphere?
As we all know, the Earth has a 23.45 tilt towards the Southern Hemisphere as by this image right here.
seasons.2.jpg
Now, because of this axial tilt, this is most likely the reason for the Asiatic Low.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asiatic_Low
Now, this is where my question is raised. What if the axial tilt was towards the Northern Hemisphere?
1. How would the pressure systems change?
2. Would it get more intense in the Southern Hemisphere and less intense in the Northern Hemisphere?
3. How would this affect wind patterns and climate overall?
Now, I could be wrong on this because this is a new topic for me, but please let me know if any of the information is incorrect. Have a nice day to whoever reads this!
Somebody correct me if I am wrong but the only difference it would make is that instantaneously, right now, then the northern hemisphere would be in mid winter and the southern hemisphere would be in summer.
When the Earth revolves around the Sun then 6 months from now it will be in exactly that scenario.
So from a planetary point of view. It would make zero difference.
As Redrobes points out, axial tilt direction affects the phase of the seasons (when the north pole points toward the sun it's Summer in the north and when it points away, that's called Winter in the north). The Asiatic low that drives monsoons forms because the heating of Asia occurs only in the Summer.
However, axial tilt combines with orbital variations to drive a lot of the ice age cycles (see Milankovich cycles).
Ok, but what if the reversed axial tilt happened at the start? On a video, I heard that a reversed axial tilt allowed the Sahara and Arabian Desert to become savannas. So it would change something, right?
It would not make a difference, assuming I understand correctly.
Could you share the video?
Two locations located at say 30°S and 30°N will have the same climate if the geography is the same in both hemisphere.
Climates from the south and north hemispheres are very different on Earth because the landmasses are very different as well.
The south is mostly covered by oceans which limits extreme temperature.
Flipping the north and south won't affect climate as these are just names set by conventions.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CM_QS984JKIOriginally Posted by Azélor
One co sideration is that the Earth currently has perihelion close to the Northern Hemisphere's winter solstice and the Southern Hemisphere's Summer solstice, and vice versa for aphelion.
If those were reversed presumably the NH would have warmer summers and cooler winters and the SH more even.
The solstices and equinoctes precede over yens of thousands of years so if you wait long enough you can find out...
If you wait 12885 years from now then that's the situation you will find yourself in. Though how that will affect the climate I do not know. Apparently it makes for about 6% extra or less solar irradiance which is small but significant enough. But sometimes climates can change quite a bit from small parameter changes. However, since the Earth has existed for a few billion years and its climate has been somewhat stable for the last million then it must have gone through a hundred of these wobbles and that the Sahara does not turn into savanna every 12885 years. So my guess is not much climate change from it.
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