Tropics
Tropics, also called tropical zone or torrid zone, all the land and water of the earth situated between the Tropic of Cancer at lat. 23 1-2°N and the Tropic of Capricorn at lat. 23 1-2°S. Every point within the tropics receives the perpendicular rays of the sun at noon on at least one day of the year. The sun is directly overhead at lat. 23 1-2°N on June 21 or 22, the summer solstice, and at lat. 23 1-2°S on Dec. 21 or 22, the winter solstice. Since the entire tropical zone receives the rays of the sun more directly than areas in higher latitudes, the average annual temperature of the tropics is higher and the seasonal change of temperature is less than in other zones. The seasons in the tropics are not marked by temperature but by the combination of trade winds taking water from the oceans and creating seasonal rains called monsoons over the eastern coasts. Several different climatic types can be distinguished within the tropical belt, since latitude is only one of the many factors de