Southern Hemisphere
|
Southern Hemisphere highlighted in yellow. |
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 large countries it contains 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
North. 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.
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.
|
Aurora australis appearing in the night sky of Swifts Creek, 100km north of Lakes Entrance, Victoria, Australia |
|
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. |
Continents in the southern hemisphere:
*
Antarctica*
Australia*most of
South America, south of the
Amazon river mouth in the east and
Quito in the west
*about 1/3 of
Africa, south of
Libreville in
Gabon in the west to south of the southern tip of
Somalia in the east
Countries wholly or mostly in the southern hemisphere that are in Africa:
*
Angola*
Botswana*
Burundi*
Democratic Republic of Congo*
Gabon*
Lesotho*
Malawi*
Mozambique*
Namibia*
Republic of the Congo*
Rwanda*
South Africa*
Swaziland*
Tanzania*
Zambia*
ZimbabweCountries wholly or mostly in the southern hemisphere that are in Asia:
*
East Timor*
IndonesiaCountries wholly or mostly in the southern hemisphere that are in Australasia and Oceania:
*
Australia*
Cook Islands*
Fiji*
Kiribati*
Nauru*
New Zealand*
Niue*
Papua New Guinea*
Samoa*
Solomon Islands*
Tokelau*
Tonga*
Tuvalu*
VanuatuCountries wholly or mostly in the southern hemisphere that are in South America:
*
Argentina*
Bolivia*
Brazil*
Chile*
Ecuador*
Paraguay*
Peru*
UruguayOther countries and territories in the southern hemisphere:
*
American Samoa*
Antarctic and sub-antarctic islands*
Chagos Archipelago *
Comoros*
Easter Island*
Falkland Islands*
French Polynesia*
Galápagos Islands *
Jarvis Island*
Juan Fernández Islands *
Kerguelen Islands*
Kermadec Islands*
Madagascar, Republic of
*
Mauritius, Republic of
*
Mayotte*
New Caledonia*
New Zealand sub-antarctic islands*
Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands
*
Réunion*
Saint Helena*
Saint Paul and
Amsterdam*
Seychelles, Republic of
*
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands*
Swains Island*
Tristan da Cunha*
Wallis and Futuna*
Seasons
*
Solstice*
Equinox*
Tropic of Capricorn*
Crux (or Southern Cross)
