The tropics are the region of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are delimited in latitude
by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn inthe
Southern Hemisphere at S; these latitudes correspond to the axial tilt of the Earth. The
tropics are also referred to as the tropical zone and the torrid zone . The tropics include
everywhere on Earth which is a subsolar point at least once during the solar year. Thus the
maximum latitudes of the tropics have the same value positive and negative. Likewise, they
approximate, due to the earth not being a perfect sphere, the "angle" of the Earth's axial
tilt. The "angle" itself is not perfectly fixed due chiefly to the influence of the moon, but the
limits of tropics are a geographic convention, being an averaged form, and the variance is
very small.In terms of climate, the tropics receive sunlight that is more direct than the rest
of Earth and are generally hotter and wetter. The word "tropical" sometimes refers to this
sort of climate rather than to the geographical zone. The tropical zone includes deserts and
snow-capped mountains, which are not tropical in the climatic sense. The tropics are
distinguished from the other climatic and biomatic regions of Earth, which are the middle
latitudes and the polar regions on either side of the equatorial zone.The tropics constitute
40% of Earth's surface area and contain 36% of Earth's landmass., the region was home to
40% of the world's population, and this figure was then projected to reach 50% by
2050.Etymology The word "tropic" comes from Ancient Greek τροπή, meaning "to turn" or
"change direction"Seasons and climate "Tropical" is sometimes used in a general sense for
a tropical climate to mean warm to hot and moist year-round, often with the sense of lush
vegetation.Many tropical areas have a dry and wet season. The wet season, rainy season or
green season is the time of year, ranging from one or more months, when most of the
average annual rainfall in a region falls. Areas with wet seasons are disseminated across
portions of the tropics and subtropics. Under the Köppen climate classification, for tropical
climates, a wet-season month is defined as a month where average precipitation is or more.
Some areas with pronounced rainy seasons see a break in rainfall during