Northern Hemisphere

The northern hemisphere - or northern hemisphere, northern hemisphere (from ancient Greek ἥμισυς hémisys, German 'halb' and σφαῖρα sphaira 'sphere') or northern hemisphere - is the part of the Earth located north of the equator. The latitude has positive sign or the signature N. The northern hemisphere is the opposite of the southern hemisphere.

In the northern hemisphere, astronomical summer lasts from June 21 to September 21/22 and winter from December 21/22 to March 20/21. North of the Tropic of Cancer, the highest position of the sun always remains in the south, below the zenith. The astronomical counterpart to the northern hemisphere of the earth is the northern starry sky on the celestial sphere.

The northern hemisphere has significantly more water area than land area, but much more land area than the southern hemisphere, as it is largely in the land hemisphere. The land area is 39% and the water area is 61%. About 90% of the people live in the northern hemisphere. The main land parts are the continents of Europe, Asia - the largest continent on Earth - and North America, as well as the greater part of Africa, part of South America and by far the largest island on Earth, Greenland. The world's oceans are the Arctic Ocean, about half of the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean, and a small part of the Indian Ocean.

Due to the Coriolis force, low-pressure areas in the northern hemisphere and also hurricanes, for example, (almost) always rotate counterclockwise in accordance with the baric wind law.

The center of the northern hemisphere and the northern polar region is the geographic North Pole - the northern intersection of the Earth's axis with the Earth's surface. The Arctic magnetic pole wanders within the Arctic Circle. The northern hemisphere aurora borealis is called the northern lights.

See also

• Western and Eastern Hemisphere