World map with the tropics highlighted in red

The tropics are the geographic region of the Earth where the sun passes through the zenith twice during the solar year (once as the sun appears to go north and once as it appears to go south). EARTH was a short-lived Japanese vocal trio which released 6 singles and 1 album between 2000 and 2001 In broad terms the zenith is the direction pointing directly above a particular location ( Perpendicular, Orthogonal) At the limits, called the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, this occurs once at the relevant solstice. For the novel by Henry Miller, see Tropic of Cancer (novel. The Tropic of Cancer, or Northern tropic, is one of five For the novel by Henry Miller, see Tropic of Capricorn (novel. Solstices occur twice a year when the tilt of the Earth's axis is most oriented toward or away from the Sun, causing the Sun to reach its northernmost and southernmost extremes ^[1]

This area is centered on the equator and limited in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the northern hemisphere, at approximately 23°26' (23. The equator (sometimes referred to colloquially as "the Line") is the intersection of the Earth 's surface with the plane perpendicular to the Latitude, usually denoted symbolically by the Greek letter phi ( Φ) gives the location of a place on Earth (or other planetary body north or south of the For the novel by Henry Miller, see Tropic of Cancer (novel. The Tropic of Cancer, or Northern tropic, is one of five 4°) N latitude, and the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern hemisphere at 23°26' (23. For the novel by Henry Miller, see Tropic of Capricorn (novel. 4°) S latitude. This region is also referred to as the tropical zone and the torrid zone (see geographical zone). Each of the five main latitude regions of the earth's surface is said to be a geographical zone, divided by the major Circles of latitude.

A noontime scene from the Philippines on a day when the Sun is almost directly overhead. The Philippines ( Filipino: Pilipinas, officially known as the Republic of the Philippines (fil ''Republika ng Pilipinas'' RP The Sun (Sol is the Star at the center of the Solar System.

On the other hand, in the temperate zones, north of the Tropic of Cancer and south of the Tropic of Capricorn, the sun never reaches the zenith, always passing south (north) of it in the northern (southern) hemisphere.

The word "tropics" comes from Greek tropos meaning "turn", because the apparent position of the Sun oscillates between the two tropics with a period that defines the average length of a year. Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly A year (from Old English gēr) is the time between two recurrences of an event related to the Orbit of the Earth around the Sun

Tropical seasons and climate

Main article: Tropical climate

The seasons in the tropics are dominated by the movement of the tropical rain belt (or ITCZ), which oscillates from the northern to the southern tropics over the course of the year, thus causing the dry season and the wet season in turn. A tropical climate is a kind of Climate typical in the Tropics. The weather in the Tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which oscillates from the northern to the southern tropics over the course of the year The Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ, also known as the Intertropical Front, Monsoon trough, Doldrums or the Equatorial The dry season is a term commonly used when describing the weather in the Tropics. A wet season or rainy season is a Season in which the average Rainfall in a region is significantly increased

Tropical is sometimes used in a general sense for a tropical climate that is warm to hot and moist year-round, often with the sense of lush vegetation. A tropical climate is a kind of Climate typical in the Tropics. However, there are places in the tropics that are anything but "tropical" in this sense, with even alpine tundra and snow-capped peaks, including Mauna Kea, Mt. Kilimanjaro, and the Andes as far south as the northernmost parts of Chile and Argentina. In physical Geography, tundra is an area where the Tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and short growing seasons Mauna Kea is a Dormant volcano in the Hawaiian Islands, one of five volcanoes which together form the Island of Hawaii. The Andes form the world's longest exposed Mountain range. They lie as a continuous chain of highland along the western coast of South America. Chile, officially the Republic of Chile ( Spanish:) is a country in South America occupying a long and narrow Coastal strip wedged between the For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Argentina topics. There are also places in the tropics which are desert, with extreme heat, such as the Sahara Desert and Australian Outback. A desert is a Landscape or region that receives very little precipitation. The Sahara (الصحراء الكبرى aṣ-ṣaḥrā´ al-kubra, "The Great Desert" is the world's largest hot Desert and the world's second largest Outback or the Outback refers to remote arid areas of Australia, although the term colloquially can refer to any lands outside of the main Urban areas

Tropical ecosystems

Coconut Trees amongst the warm, tropical climate in Brazil. |utc_offset = -2 to -4 |time_zone_DST = BRST |utc_offset_DST = -2 to -5 |cctld

Tropical plants and animals are those species native to the tropics. Tropical ecosystems may consist of rainforests, dry deciduous forests, spiny forests, desert and other habitat types. Rainforests are Forests characterized by high Rainfall with definitions setting minimum normal annual rainfall between 1750–2000 mm (68-78 inches A desert is a Landscape or region that receives very little precipitation. There are often significant areas of biodiversity, and specie endemism present particularly in rainforests and dry deciduous forests. Biodiversity is the variation of Life forms within a given Ecosystem, Biome or for the entire Earth. Endemism is the Ecological state of being unique to a place Endemic species are not naturally found elsewhere Rainforests are Forests characterized by high Rainfall with definitions setting minimum normal annual rainfall between 1750–2000 mm (68-78 inches Some examples of important biodiversity and/or high endicism ecosystems are: Costa Rican and Nicaraguan rainforests, Brazilian and Venezuelan Amazon Rainforest territories, Madagascar dry deciduous forests, Waterberg Biosphere of South Africa and eastern Madagascar rainforests. Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( Spanish: Costa Rica or República de Costa Rica,) is a Country in Nicaragua (ˌnɪkəˈrɑgwə officially the Republic of Nicaragua () is a representative democratic republic and the largest nation in Central America |utc_offset = -2 to -4 |time_zone_DST = BRST |utc_offset_DST = -2 to -5 |cctld Venezuela (ˌvɛnəˈzweɪlə) officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (Spanish República Bolivariana de Venezuela) is a country on the The Amazon Rainforest (Brazilian Portuguese: Floresta Amazônica or Amazônia; Spanish: Selva Amazónica or Amazonía The Madagascar dry deciduous forests represent a tropical dry forest Ecoregion generally situated in the western part of Madagascar. The Waterberg Biosphere is a Massif of approximately 15000 square kilometers in north Limpopo Province, South Africa. The Republic of South Africa (also known by other official names) is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa Madagascar, or Republic of Madagascar (older name Malagasy Republic) is an Island nation in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern Often the soils of tropical forests are low in nutrient content making them quite vulnerable to slash-and-burn techniques, which are sometimes an element of shifting cultivation agricultural systems. A nutrient is food or chemicals that an organism needs to live and grow or a substance used in an organism's metabolism which must be taken in from its environment Slash and burn consists of cutting and burning of Forests or Woodlands to create fields for Agriculture or Pasture for Livestock, or For methods see Slash and burn Shifting cultivation is an Agricultural system in which plots of land are cultivated temporarily then abandoned

In biogeography, the tropics are divided into paleotropics (Africa, Asia and Australia) and neotropics (Central and South America). Biogeography is the study of the distribution of Biodiversity over Space and Time. In Biogeography, Neotropic or Neotropical refers to one of the world's eight terrestrial Ecozones This ecozone includes South and Central America the Together, they are sometimes referred to as the pantropics. The neotropic region should not be confused with the ecozone of the same name; in the Old World, this is unambiguous as the paleotropics correspond to the Afrotropical, Indomalayan, and partly the Australasian and Oceanic ecozones. An ecozone or biogeographic realm is the largest scale biogeographic division of the earth's surface based on the historic and evolutionary distribution patterns

See also

• Tropical year
• Tropic of Cancer
• Tropic of Capricorn
• Geographical zone
• Equator
• Tropical marine ecosystem

References