Day Length and Seasons
Before you complete this lesson make sure you are familiar with meanings of latitude and
longitude:
Latitude: are parallel lines running in an east to west direction and measure north and south of
the equator.
Longitude: are lines running in an north to south direction and measure east and west of the
Prime Meridian.
______________________________ ________________
In this lesson, you will see how latitude plays are key role in day length and seasons.
PART A – Regions and Day Length
Below are five schools and their location information. Day light amounts for these locations were
collected through the use of web cameras.
Paulatuk, Northwest Territories, Canada (Angik School)
Aklavik, Northwest Territories, Canada (Moose Kerr School)
Franklin, Massachusetts, United States (Helen Kelen School)
Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, United States (West Elementary)
Hilo, Hawaii, United States (Waiakeawaena School)
Latitude: 69 North
Latitute:66 North
Latitude: 42 North
Latitude: 36 North
Latitude: 19 North
** For each school, identify their climate region. (Hint: Below you will find three climate
categories. By comparing this information to the school Latitude coordinates, identify the school
as either ‘polar’, ‘temperate’ or ‘tropical.’
Polar region: areas around the earth that surround the poles. The northern polar region is
anywhere north of the Arctic Circle ( approximately 66.5 North Latitude). The southern polar
region is anywhere south of the Antarctic Circle (approximately 66.5 South Latitute).
Temperate region: the temperature regions lie between the tropics and the polar circles. The
northern temperate region is between 66.5N and 23.5N. The southern temperate region is
between 66.5S and 23.5S.
Tropical Region: the tropical regions are located by the equator. It is limited by the Tropic of
Cancer in the northern hemisphere (23.5N) and the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern
hemisphere 23.5S).
SEE NEXT PAGE ….
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Paulatuk, NWT: ____________________
Aklavik, NWT:
____________________
Franklin, Mass. ____________________
Mt. Juliet, Tenn. ____________________
Hilo, Hawaii
____________________
On December 1, 2005 students at each of the following 4 schools had a different
amount of day light. Count the hours of day light at each school and record in the
space provided.
• Paulatuk, Northwest Territories Canada
_______________
• Aklavik, Northwest Territories Canada
_______________
• Franklin, Massachusetts United States
_______________
• Mt. Juliet, Tennessee United States
_______________
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2. The schools located in Paulatuk, NT and Aklavik, NT are above the Arctic Circle
in a polar region, the schools in Franklin, MA and Mt. Juliet, TN are located in a
temperate region and the school in Hilo, HI is located in a tropical region. In mid
May, how many hours of daylight did each region have?
Polar Region (Paulatuk and Aklavik, NT CA)
_________________
Temperate Region (Franklin, MA and Mt. Juliet, TN)
__________________
Tropical Region (Hilo, HI)
__________________
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3. On June 21, 2006, the summer solstice, which is the longest day of the year, how
many hours of light did each school have?
Angik School (Paulatuk, NWT, CA)
___________
Moose Kerr School (Aklavik, NWT, CA)
___________
Helen Keller Elementary School (Franklin, MA, USA) ___________
West Elementary School (Mt. Juliet, TN, USA)
__________
Waiakeawaena School (Hilo, HI, USA)
___________
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Part B – Latitude, Day Length and Seasons
The following is a table comparing day length
and latitude for three seasons.
June (Summer) Solstice – the northern
hemisphere is tilted towards the sun.
Equinox – earth is tilted sideways so that
neither hemisphere is tilted toward the sun.
December (Winter) Solstice- the northern hemisphere is tilted away from the sun.
Latitude 
90
66.5
Halifax (44)
23.5
0
-23.5
-66.5
-90
June Solstice
Equinox
December Solstice
Day Length (hours)
Day Length (hours)
Day Length (hours)
24
11
9
8
8
6
4
0
12
12
11
11
11
11
12
12
0
2
7
9
11
12
16
24
1. Graph day length (in hours) versus latitude (in degrees) for all three seasons
using different symbols/color for each. There should be three separate curves,
labeled axis, graph title, and a legend to distinguish each curve.
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Answer the following questions on looseleaf:
2. What latitudes experience the largest changes in day length during the year?
3. Are there any locations on Earth which experience very little variation in day
length? Why?
4. Are there any times of the year when all places experience the same day length?
Why?
5. At what latitudes (i.e. 20 - 30 ) would you expect very clear winter and summer
seasons? At what latitudes would you expect little difference in the summer and
winter seasons?
SUPPLEMTARY DIAGRAM
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