I know the earth is tilted about 23 degrees.
And this causes the seasons.
So what would happen if it became totally upright?
No more seasons?
The death of some ecology?
SOmeone out there: fill me in.
Yeah, basically each latitude would have an average climate that wouldn’t vary by near as much as winter and summer. The sun would always be over the equator, and “The Land of the Midnight Sun” wouldn’t be anymore.
Day-length difference would also be a constant. The days and nights would be shorter toward the poles until it’s essentially zero at the top and bottom, longest at the equator. It would be interesting to see the sun zoom around the sky at the higher latitudes.
Most plants and animals in temperate climates have adapted to the seasons changing (think of bears hibernating). Many plants have a dormant state, some animals only breed at certain times of the year, etc. How many have become absolutely dependent on them is not so clear. Just guessing, I’d say it was only a few – but if all the seasons suddenly disappeared there would be a very chaotic adaptation period that would almost certainly lead to some species disappearing. Season-dependent ecological niches would disappear and the species that had adapted specifically for them would be at a disadvantage versus more generalized species.
Tropical climates would also be affected since, although the temperature and day length don’t vary much, many of them have a rainy season and a dry season. Arctic ecologies would probably be the most severely disrupted; many of them are vitally dependent on the short summer, which would be lost.
And – there would be no tree rings!
Quoth Derleth:
Nope, the day would be the same length everywhere, except possibly exactly at the poles, where it might be a bit difficult to define “day” (the Sun would never rise nor set, but just circle around on the horizon). Even then, the time for the Sun to go from one particular point on the horizon all the way around and back would still be the same. The Earth would still rotate once every 24 hours, and the whole Earth rorates at once.