I learned in school that seasonality is due to the earth’s tilt. Summer (in which hemisphere you live in) is hot because the sun shines on your part of the earth for more hours than it does in winter. Makes sense, but how does the UV Index work? I’ve been checking it recently and a hour of sunshine at this time of the year is much more damaging than other times. IDK if it’s in my mind but sunshine on my skin just feels… “burnier.” Presumably the amount of radiation the sun puts out doesn’t vary with seasons. It is also due to angle? Is it something with heat? Am I imagining this?
In: Planetary Science
The basic concept is that the sunlight comes more “directly” into us, rather than at an angle.
When you shine light in a angled plane the light spreads out, which means the light coming in for any position of the plane is less concentrated. Less concentrated light means less UV, less heat etc.
[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e6/Oblique_rays_04_Pengo.svg/1920px-Oblique_rays_04_Pengo.svg.png](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e6/Oblique_rays_04_Pengo.svg/1920px-Oblique_rays_04_Pengo.svg.png) I think this picture explains it best. Imagine at the summer the earth is tilted towards the sun rays meaning that northend hemisphere gets more direct sunlight
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