Day length decreasing: greater difference to sunrise times than sunset...

[IanCD]

I'm almost 68 and I've only just noticed (!) that we lose more daylight from the mornings than evenings as days get shorter.   

That is, if the sunrise and sunset times, e.g. here: 

Sunrise and sunset times in Greenwich, London

SUNRISE-SUNSET.ORG

are right...

I'm guessing one of you folk here can explain why..?

[cheeky_monkey]

 IanCD opposite is true as the days get longer..the earliest sunrise in June is 10 days prior to the latest sunset.

[cheeky_monkey]

if you look at Miami for example they have a huge difference ..earliest sunset in the year has already happened on Nov 29th ..but the latest sunrise does not happen until Jan 17th

[Summer of 95]

Equation of time. Basically, the point when the sun is highest in the sky/due south (solar noon) isn't always at exactly midday by the clock.

Take that Greenwich example: solar noon= 4 hours 3.5 minutes after sunrise= 11:50:34. So it's before the clock says midday*, hence the sunrise and sunset are shifted earlier.

It's at its earliest around Oct/Nov/early Dec. Towards the end of December solar noon gets later by the clock, which is why the earliest sunset is a bit before the solstice and the latest sunrise a bit after. 

At lower latitudes the difference in solar noon time forms a greater part of determining sunrise/sunset times (as the variation in day length is less), so the earliest sunset and latest sunrise are shifted further from the solstice 

*Midday at 0°longitude. Further west or east you need to adjust for the difference, but the principle is still the same: earlier solar noon shifts sunrise and sunset earlier by the clock.

[IanCD]

Great, thanks both