Misc

Animated Map: Visualizing Earth’s Seasons

Published

3 years ago

January 22, 2022

Eleanor Lutz

Featured Creator

Article/Editing:

Carmen Ang

Animated Map of Earth Throughout the Seasons

Animated Map: Visualizing Earth’s Seasons

Why does Earth have seasons?

Many people think the seasons are dictated by Earth’s proximity to the Sun, but this isn’t the case. It’s the Earth’s tilt, not its closeness to the Sun, that influences our seasons.

This animated map by Eleanor Lutz visualizes Earth’s seasons, showing how the temperature changes impact ice levels in the Arctic as well as vegetation more broadly. It also highlights the cloud cover and sunlight each hemisphere receives throughout the year, with each frame in the animation representing a month of time.

Why is Earth Tilted?

Unlike some of the planets that sit completely upright and rotate perpendicularly, Earth rotates on a 23.5-degree axis.

But why? A commonly accepted theory among the scientific community is the giant impact hypothesis. According to this theory, a celestial object called Theia collided with Earth many years ago, when the planet was still forming. This collision not only knocked Earth into its tilted position—some believe that the dust and debris from this impact ended up forming our moon.

Ever since, our planet has been rotating with a slight tilt (which itself is not fixed, as it “wobbles” in cycles), giving us our varying seasons throughout the year.

How Earth’s Tilt Influences our Seasons

As our planet orbits the Sun, it’s always leaning in the same direction. Because of its tilt, the different hemispheres receive varying amounts of sunlight at different times of the year.

In December, Earth is technically closer to the Sun than it is in June or July. However, because the Northern Hemisphere is tilted away from the Sun during December, that part of the planet experiences winter during that time.

Earth's Seasonal Climates

The graphic above by the Smithsonian Science Education Center (SSEC) visualizes Earth’s orbit throughout the year, showing when each hemisphere receives the most direct sunlight (and thus, experiences summer).

The Climate Change Impact

While our seasons have always varied, it’s worth noting that climate change has impacted our seasons, and changed how much Arctic ice we lose each summer.

In the past, millions of miles of ice remained frozen throughout the summer months. In the 1980s, there were 3.8 million square miles of ice in July—that’s roughly the same size as Australia.

Over the years, Arctic ice cover has steadily declined. In July 2020, the ice cover was only 2.8 million square miles—a million less than the amount four decades ago.

Some scientists are predicting that we could lose our summer sea ice entirely by 2035, which would have a devastating impact on the Artic’s wildlife and the indigenous people who live there.

This article was published as a part of Visual Capitalist's Creator Program, which features data-driven visuals from some of our favorite Creators around the world.

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Misc

Charted: Where People Trust the Media (and Where They Don’t)

Examine the global landscape of public trust in media institutions. Confidence remains low in all but a few key countries.

Published

11 hours ago

March 25, 2025

Nick Routley

Where People Trust the Media (and Where They Don’t)

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

Each year, Edelman’s Trust Barometer provides an overview of how much people trust various societal institutions.

Today we focus on one public institution that the public remains widely skeptical of: the media. Below, we see the latest numbers on what share of society has confidence their country’s media institutions.

Rank	Country	% who trust media	P.P. change from 2024 to 2025
1	🇨🇳 China	75%	-2
2	🇮🇩 Indonesia	75%	+5
3	🇮🇳 India	67%	0
4	🇹🇭 Thailand	67%	-2
5	🇰🇪 Kenya	66%	+4
6	🇳🇬 Nigeria	63%	+7
7	🇸🇬 Singapore	62%	+2
8	🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia	61%	0
9	🇲🇾 Malaysia	60%	0
10	🇦🇪 UAE	59%	-4
11	🇳🇱 Netherlands	57%	+1
12	🇲🇽 Mexico	54%	0
13	🇨🇦 Canada	52%	+1
14	🇮🇹 Italy	52%	+4
15	🇧🇷 Brazil	46%	+1
16	🇿🇦 South Africa	46%	+3
17	🇫🇷 France	45%	+5
18	🇨🇴 Colombia	44%	+5
19	🇩🇪 Germany	44%	-2
20	🇸🇪 Sweden	43%	+3
21	🇦🇷 Argentina	42%	+9
22	🇺🇸 United States	42%	+3
23	🇮🇪 Ireland	40%	+3
24	🇪🇸 Spain	40%	0
25	🇰🇷 South Korea	38%	+1
26	🇦🇺 Australia	37%	-3
27	🇬🇧 UK	36%	+5
28	🇯🇵 Japan	33%	0

As the data shows, countries aren’t universally negative when it comes to this category. Some of Asia’s largest countries, China*, Indonesia, and India (with their combined population of over three billion), report high levels of trust in media institutions. This is in stark contrast to Japan and South Korea, where the public is more skeptical their country’s media.

Most countries saw trust in media increase slightly. Scores declined in just five countries.

The biggest change in score occurred in Argentina, where trust in government also jumped dramatically since Javier Milei took power.

*Editor’s note: Trust does not necessarily mean that a country’s media is high quality or that it has wide-ranging coverage that encourages debate. For example, trust may be high in China, but that is likely because citizens are only exposed to state media, that they have little else to compare it against.

Trust in Media: Ups and Downs

Over the past five years, there have been some notable changes in media trust.

Saudi Arabia and UAE both saw big changes, rising 15 and six percentage points, respectively.

Japan, Germany, and the United States all saw declines of five percentage points or more over the last five years. Conversely, France and South Africa both saw their media trust increase by five percentage points or more.

Russia is no longer covered in the report, but the latest data in 2022 showed just 29% trust in the media—the lowest of any country.

Why the Distrust?

There are a number of problems with the traditional media industry that are fueling distrust within society:

Partisan Bias
Partisan ownership and reporting lead to accusations of biased coverage. Many media outlets prioritize specific political agendas as a business strategy.

Declining Journalistic Standards
Sensationalism and a focus on “clickbait” over factual reporting further erodes trust. Years of shrinking revenue have left newsrooms overstretched, with thorough fact-checking becoming more rare.

Rise of Alternative Information Sources
Social media and alternative news outlets challenge the traditional media’s authority. These sources often provide differing narratives, contributing to confusion and distrust.