Northern hemisphere

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Northern hemisphere
Distribution of the continents on both sides of the equator and the prime meridian (excluding Antarctica). Part of the northern hemisphere highlighted in blue

The  part of the earth that is north of the equator is referred to as the northern hemisphere - or also the northern hemisphere, northern hemisphere (from ancient Greek ἥμισυς hémisys , German 'half' and σφαῖρα sphaira 'sphere') or northern hemisphere . The latitude has a positive sign and the signature N . The northern hemisphere is the counterpart to the southern hemisphere .

The astronomical summer lasts in the northern hemisphere from June 21st to 21st / 22nd. September and winter from 21./22. December to 20./21. March. North of the Tropic of Capricorn , 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 star sky on the celestial sphere .

The northern hemisphere has significantly more water than land area , but significantly more land area than the southern hemisphere, as it is largely in the land hemisphere . The land area is 39%, the water area 61%. About 90% of the people live in the northern hemisphere. The main parts of the country 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 , around half of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans and a small part of the Indian Ocean .

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

The center of the northern hemisphere and the north polar region is the geographic north pole  - the northern intersection of the earth's axis with the earth's surface . The Arctic Magnetic Pole moves within the Arctic Circle . The northern lights of the northern hemisphere are called aurora borealis, in German northern lights.

See also

Web links

Wiktionary: Northern Hemisphere  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. Peter Hupfer, Wilhelm Kuttler, Ernst Heyer, Frank-Michael Chmielewski: Weather and climate: an introduction to meteorology and climatology . 12., revised. A. Edition. Vieweg + Teubner Verlag, 2006, ISBN 3-8351-0096-3 (page 13).