The Surprising Change Scientists Found In Neptune’s Temperature

Just like Earth, Neptune is also tilted and experiences seasonal variations similar to summer and winter on Earth. The only difference is that Neptune’s orbital period is 165 years, which means the seasons don’t last for months as they do on Earth. Instead, Neptunian seasons last over four decades. The summer season in which the data on Neptune’s stratosphere was recorded was expected to have shown a rise in temperature, but the scientists have been left stunned with data that suggests the opposite.

Further studies showed that between 2018 and 2020, the planet’s southern pole actually got warmer, recording an 11-degrees Celcius rise in temperature. The phenomenon of polar warming hasn’t been documented on Neptune, even though a similar process on Earth has left environment scientists in great concern. The rise in polar temperature is surprisingly swift, especially considering the fact that the planet’s South Pole has been subjected to constant solar illumination since 1963, according to the research paper published in The Planetary Science Journal.