Is there a hemisphere-neutral way of specifying a season?

Question

I want to refer to the timeframe of Summer 2019 in the Northern hemisphere. However, the writing is intended for a global audience, and when it is Summer in the Northern hemisphere it will be Winter in the southern hemisphere.Is there terminology I can use that refers to that period of time in both hemispheres?

Answer 1

This is a great question! I did a little researching in my universities online database and could not really come up with anything concrete. I think the simplest solution would be to refer to the months involved.

Ex: Instead of saying

"The study was done in the summer of 2018"

You might instead say

"The study took place between June and September 2018."

If it is important to the research that this took place during the Summer you could specify that this was during Summer in North America.

If you find a different solution please let me know. I am interested in what you come up with!