Sun Path: City of Port Phillip, Australia

Direct answer

For City of Port Phillip at -37.8338, 144.9383, the declination-only solar-noon altitude is approximately 28.7° at the June solstice, 52.2° at an equinox and 75.6° at the December solstice. Refine these geometry checks with the project date, civil time, facade azimuth, terrain and local horizon. The reproducible location record is GeoNames ID 10300648 in administrative area 07, at -37.8338, 144.9383; replace it with the surveyed parcel point before relying on the result. As a transparent geometry check, declination-only solar-noon altitude is about 28.7° at the June solstice, 52.2° at an equinox and 75.6° at the December solstice. Representative 21st-day geometry ranges from about 9.4 hours in June to 14.6 hours in December; this excludes atmospheric refraction, terrain and obstruction effects. The cited national authority is a discovery starting point; current local documents and a named qualified reviewer control project use of this sun path record.

Prepared by Harth · Prepared from the cited location and country sources; local project inputs remain unreviewed · Published 2026-08-26 · Updated 2026-08-31.

What must be verified for City of Port Phillip?

City of Port Phillip is represented here at approximately -37.8338, 144.9383 for discovery and workflow planning. A project address, parcel, elevation, exposure, authority, and submission date must replace that city-centre reference before design use.

How should sun path be established?

1. Fix the surveyed site and local time basis.
2. Select an authoritative weather source or a named solar-position algorithm.
3. Record period, percentile or scenario and units.
4. Test sensitivity to elevation, exposure, urban form and horizon.
5. Save the source file, retrieval date and checker in the model record.

What are the limits of this worksheet?

This sun-path-workflow page is a project-starting worksheet, not a design value or approval. The controlling authority and qualified professionals for the City of Port Phillip site remain authoritative.

City of Port Phillip monthly solar geometry check for sun path

City of Port Phillip solar-geometry fingerprint at -37.8338, 144.9383

• City of Port Phillip, 21 January: declination -20.14°, noon altitude 72.30°, zenith 17.70°, geometric daylight 14.206 hours, and vertical-object noon shadow ratio 0.319.
• City of Port Phillip, 21 February: declination -11.23°, noon altitude 63.39°, zenith 26.61°, geometric daylight 13.182 hours, and vertical-object noon shadow ratio 0.501.
• City of Port Phillip, 21 March: declination -0.40°, noon altitude 52.57°, zenith 37.43°, geometric daylight 12.042 hours, and vertical-object noon shadow ratio 0.765.
• City of Port Phillip, 21 April: declination +11.58°, noon altitude 40.59°, zenith 49.41°, geometric daylight 10.779 hours, and vertical-object noon shadow ratio 1.167.
• City of Port Phillip, 21 May: declination +20.14°, noon altitude 32.03°, zenith 57.97°, geometric daylight 9.794 hours, and vertical-object noon shadow ratio 1.599.
• City of Port Phillip, 21 June: declination +23.45°, noon altitude 28.72°, zenith 61.28°, geometric daylight 9.375 hours, and vertical-object noon shadow ratio 1.825.
• City of Port Phillip, 21 July: declination +20.44°, noon altitude 31.72°, zenith 58.28°, geometric daylight 9.757 hours, and vertical-object noon shadow ratio 1.618.
• City of Port Phillip, 21 August: declination +11.75°, noon altitude 40.41°, zenith 49.59°, geometric daylight 10.760 hours, and vertical-object noon shadow ratio 1.174.
• City of Port Phillip, 21 September: declination -0.20°, noon altitude 52.37°, zenith 37.63°, geometric daylight 12.021 hours, and vertical-object noon shadow ratio 0.771.
• City of Port Phillip, 21 October: declination -11.75°, noon altitude 63.92°, zenith 26.08°, geometric daylight 13.240 hours, and vertical-object noon shadow ratio 0.489.
• City of Port Phillip, 21 November: declination -20.44°, noon altitude 72.61°, zenith 17.39°, geometric daylight 14.243 hours, and vertical-object noon shadow ratio 0.313.
• City of Port Phillip, 21 December: declination -23.45°, noon altitude 75.62°, zenith 14.38°, geometric daylight 14.625 hours, and vertical-object noon shadow ratio 0.256.

Harth computed the City of Port Phillip fingerprint for latitude -37.8338° with the Cooper declination approximation, 90° - |latitude - declination| at solar noon, centre-to-centre sunrise hour angle and 1 / tan(altitude) shadow ratio. Longitude 144.9383° is retained for a later civil-time conversion; this screen does not perform that conversion. See NOAA's solar calculation details. Atmospheric refraction, terrain, facade azimuth and obstructions remain outside this first-pass comparison.

Where can you explore related guidance?

• Explore all solar data guidance
• Sun Path: Melbourne, Australia
• Sun Path: Melbourne City Centre, Australia
• Sun Path: Reservoir, Australia
• Sun Path: Point Cook, Australia
• All solar & daylight data guidance for Australia
• Climate Design Data: City of Port Phillip, Australia

Sources and method

Location data from the GeoNames AU dump (CC BY 4.0, snapshot 2026-08-31, GeoNames ID 10300648). Regulatory starting point: Australian Building Codes Board and the applicable state or territory authority. Figures are illustrative — verify against the current locally adopted edition for the site. Solar-method context: NOAA Solar Calculation Details; the Harth monthly table uses a simpler declination and geometric-daylight approximation whose stated limitations must be retained.

Source links

• download.geonames.org

• ncc.abcb.gov.au

• gml.noaa.gov