Climate

Travel & Tours / Climate – The solar altitude (or height of the sun) describes the Sun's location on its apparent path around the Earth. It is described in form of polar coordinates by the angle to the horizon h (0° - 90°) and the azimuth angle az (0° - 360°).

h corresponds to the angle of incidence of the sunlight, its intensity and by that the temperature at a certain latitude and a certain time. The steeper the angle, the smaller the area where a certain number of sun rays are concentrated, the stronger the intensity and the higher the temperature.

The angle decreases from the equator to the poles and from the summer to the winter solstice and by that the temperature. During a solar day, the solar altitude becomes maximum at noon ((time at sunrise - time at sunset)/2).

For any location on Earth, the solar altitude can be visualized in a polar diagram – Hiking Tours / Brazil.