Misplaced Pages

Southern Hemisphere

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Tennis expert (talk | contribs) at 06:20, 29 November 2006 (Corrected the grammatically incorrect and inconsistent capitalization of the hemispheres). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Revision as of 06:20, 29 November 2006 by Tennis expert (talk | contribs) (Corrected the grammatically incorrect and inconsistent capitalization of the hemispheres)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Map of Earth
Longitude (λ)
Lines of longitude appear vertical with varying curvature in this projection, but are actually halves of great ellipses, with identical radii at a given latitude.
Latitude (φ)
Lines of latitude appear horizontal with varying curvature in this projection; but are actually circular with different radii. All locations with a given latitude are collectively referred to as a circle of latitude.
The equator divides the planet into a Northern Hemisphere and a Southern Hemisphere, and has a latitude of 0°.

The southern hemisphere is the half of a planet's surface (or celestial sphere) that is south of the equator (the word hemisphere literally means 'half ball').

On Earth it contains five continents (Antarctica, Australia, most of South America, parts of Africa and Asia) as well as four oceans (South Atlantic, Indian, Pacific and Southern). Summer is from December to February and winter from June to August.

The southern hemisphere is significantly less polluted than the northern hemisphere due to lower overall population densities, lower levels of industrialisation and smaller land masses (air currents run mostly west–east so pollution does not easily spread north or south). The southern temperate zone is in fact nearly all water; the only countries that include at least some of this zone are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, New Zealand, South Africa and Uruguay.

Climates in the southern hemisphere tend to be slightly milder than in the northern hemisphere. This is because the southern hemisphere has significantly less land and more ocean. The water heats up and cools down more slowly than land.

In the southern hemisphere the sun passes from east to west through the gorth (in the tropics the mean Sun may be directly overhead or due south at midday). This causes sun-cast shadows to turn anticlockwise through the day. Hurricanes and tropical storms spin clockwise in the southern hemisphere (as opposed to counter-clockwise in the northern hemisphere) due to the Coriolis effect. A fact often missed is that in the southern hemisphere, the Moon appears to be upside-down compared to viewing from the northern hemisphere.

The south pole is oriented towards the galactic centre and this, combined with clearer skies makes for excellent viewing of the night sky from the southern hemisphere, with brighter and more numerous stars.

Continents and countries on Earth's southern hemisphere

southern hemisphere highlighted in yellow (Antarctica not depicted).
southern hemisphere

Continents in the southern hemisphere:

Countries wholly or mostly in the southern hemisphere that are in Asia:

Countries wholly or mostly in the southern hemisphere that are in Africa:

Countries wholly or mostly in the southern hemisphere that are in Australasia and Oceania:

The famous photo of Earth from Apollo 17 (Blue Marble) originally had the south pole at the top; however, it was turned upside-down to fit the traditional perspective.

Countries wholly or mostly in the southern hemisphere that are in South America:

Other countries and territories in the southern hemisphere:

Aurora australis appearing in the night sky of Swifts Creek, 100km north of Lakes Entrance, Victoria, Australia

See also

Hemispheres of Earth
Categories: