Tropics
![World map with the intertropical zone highlighted in crimson](/Images/godic/202502/17/World_map_indicating_tropics_and_subtropics1711.png")
![Tropical climate zones of the Earth where all twelve months have mean temperatures above 18.0 °C (64.4 °F)](/Images/godic/202502/17/Koppen_World_Map_Af_Am_Aw1711.png")
![A graph showing the zonally averaged monthly precipitation. The tropics receive more precipitation than higher latitudes. The precipitation maximum, which follows the solar equator through the year, is under the rising branch of the Hadley circulation; the sub-tropical minima are under the descending branch and cause the desert areas.](/Images/godic/202502/17/Monthly_zonal_mean_precipitation1711.png")
![Tropical sunset over the sea in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia](/Images/godic/202502/17/Kota_Kinabalu_by_Dale_Preston1711.jpg")
The tropics are a region of the Earth surrounding the Equator. They are delimited in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at 23°26′13.8″ (or 23.43717°) N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at 23°26′13.8″ (or 23.43717°) 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 (see geographical zone). The tropics include all the areas on the Earth where the Sun reaches a subsolar point, a point directly overhead at least once during the solar year.