Tropical vs polar latitudes

• Tropics: The Sun's rays are more concentrated because the midday Sun is high in the sky throughout the year
• Tropics: The Sun's rays have less atmosphere to pass through, so less energy is lost through absorption and reflection by the atmosphere
• Tropics: In Tropical rainforest areas (e.g. The Amazon rainforest), dense vegetation absorbs radiation giving a low relative albedo effect
• Tropics: The Sun is directly overhead in the equatorial and tropical regions throughout the year
• Polar: The Sun's angle is much lower, so the rays of energy are spread out over a much larger area and are therefore less intense
• Polar: Because of the Earth's curvature, the rays must travel further through the atmosphere, with more chance of being reflected and absorbed
• Polar: In polar regions, snow and ice cover reflect much more of the solar radiation, giving a high albedo effect
• Polar: For six months the Poles receive no solar energy due to the Earth’s orbit and tilt