Axes are defined for arrays with more than one dimension. A
2-dimensional array has two corresponding axes: the first running
vertically downwards across rows (axis 0), and the second running
horizontally across columns (axis 1).
Let A be the array, then in your example when the axis is 1, [i,:,k] is added. Likewise, for axis 0, [:,j,k] are added and when axis is 2, [i,j,:] are added.
A = np.array([
[[ 1, 2, 3],[ 4, 5, 6], [12, 34, 90]],
[[ 4, 5, 6],[ 2, 5, 6], [ 7, 3, 4]]
])
np.sum(A,axis = 0)
array([[ 5, 7, 9],
[ 6, 10, 12],
[19, 37, 94]])
np.sum(A,axis = 1)
array([[17, 41, 99],
[13, 13, 16]])
np.sum(A,axis = 2)
array([[ 6, 15,136],
[15, 13, 14]])