edu.ucar.opensky::articles:26382 UCAR/NCAR - Library OpenSky Support PO Box 3000 Boulder CO 80307-3000 opensky@ucar.edu http://opensky.ucar.edu/ homepage pointOfContact 2025-12-24T19:31:47.101183 ISO 19115-2 Geographic Information - Metadata - Part 2: Extensions for Imagery and Gridded Data ISO 19115-2:2009(E) https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7h99958 https://doi.org/10.5065/D6RX99HX https Related Service #1 Cheyenne: SGI ICE XA Cluster https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7868994 https Related Software #1 lettie-roach/analysis_temp-asym: v1 Asymmetry in the seasonal cycle of zonal-mean surface air temperature 2023-05-28T00:00:00Z publication https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7h99958 https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GL103403 Roach, Laetitia author Eisenman, I. author Wagner, T. J. W. author Donohoe, A. author UCAR/NCAR - Library publisher At most latitudes, the seasonal cycle of zonal-mean surface air temperature is notably asymmetric: the length of the warming season is not equal to the length of the cooling season. The asymmetry varies spatially, with the cooling season being similar to 40 days shorter than the warming season in the subtropics and the warming season being similar to 100 days shorter than the cooling season at the poles. Furthermore, the asymmetry differs between the Northern Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere. Here, we show that these observed features are broadly captured in a simple model for the evolution of temperature forced by realistic insolation. The model suggests that Earth's orbital eccentricity largely determines the hemispheric contrast, and obliquity broadly dictates the meridional structure. Clouds, atmospheric heat flux convergence, and time-invariant effective surface heat capacity have minimal impacts on seasonal asymmetry. This simple, first-order picture has been absent from previous discussions of the surface temperature seasonal cycle. UCAR/NCAR - Library OpenSky Support PO Box 3000 Boulder CO 80307-3000 opensky@ucar.edu http://opensky.ucar.edu/ homepage pointOfContact PDF Text theme Resource Type 2016-01-01T00:00:00Z publication Copyright 2023 American Geophysical Union (AGU). None eng geoscientificInformation