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!
I’m not an expert but I think it’s because of the shapes of the continents and oceans and their effect on ocean currents.
The Arctic Ocean is effectively a northern extension of the Atlantic, with relatively little water exchange with the Pacific. So, currents flow primarily north-south, allowing warm water to be exchanged.
By contrast, the Southern Ocean is not hemmed in by land, and so there’s nothing stopping currents flowing longitudinally rather than latitudinally - which is exactly what happens. Cold water is exchanged for other cold water, at least on the surface, keeping the ocean and surrounding areas cooler.
(Please correct me if I’m wrong!)
There’s also very little land stopping the wind around the Southern Ocean, so the cool temperatures in the Tierra del Fuego might not be your only issue!
You got longitude and latitude backwards, but otherwise 👍
My vaguely nonsense way of remembering this is “latitude” is one letter swap away from “altitude” which is how far up and down something is. And longitude lines are long because they go round and round without ever meeting at a point
Not sure about the longitude pneumonic. Latitude lines stay parallel, but longitude lines all connect at the poles. 0⁰ longitude ends where 180⁰ longitude starts at each pole. So longitude lines don’t really keep circling.