Challenge Question

The Oceans take a while to heat up, and likewise take time to dissipate the stored heat, there is a delay.

Aphelion happens near the middle of the northern summer. The northern hemisphere has lots of continents that heats up easily, while the southern hemisphere (then in winter) has lots of ocean, which retains heat well.

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast03jul_1 .htm

The Earth is at perihelion during the Northern hemisphere winter and at aphelion in the summer! Most of the land mass is in the Northern hemisphere. And land is heated to a higher temperature than the oceans for a given flux of solar radiation. The eccentricity of the Earth's orbit is only about 0.017 and so the variation in the distance to the sun is only some 3.4%.

That's correct. The heat capacity of land is 4.5 times lower than the Ocean. The Southern hemisphere is mostly ocean and the Northern Hemisphere is mostly land. So although the Earth is farthest from the sun in June, it's at its hottest because it's summer in the hemisphere where all the land is.

Good point - the earth-sun distance doesnt change that much between aphelion and perihelion. More significant is the ratio of land to water that receives the sun's energy.

Along with the difference in heat capacities of land and water, another reason could be the mechanism of heat transfer to the atmosphere. As land heats up, it radiates infrared, some of which heats up the air and raises surface temperature. As water heats up, however, it evaporates, causing no increase in air temperatures.

We must be at aphelion, 'cause it's hoternhell around here.

From "Smooth" by Santana:
Man, it's a hot one -
Like seven inches from the midday sun.

Aphelion means the most far distance of the earth from sun. Logically it should be cooler, but the Gods arrangement of islands in northern hemisphere as more dense than shouthern one - meanwhile the norther hemisphere face the sun (remember the term "northern summer"), combined with the fact that island get hot easier than ocean does - should clear to us as the more logic fact that during aphelion visit our world is warmer than at perihelion does. May the reversed version happen, then the world's mean temperature will differ a lot more distant and should it'll harm to the creatures. Any one who will develop a simulation and modelling to proove for?

"If you can't dazzle 'em with your brilliance, baffle 'em with Bull***t!"