Hemispheres of Earth in

geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, a ...

and

cartography Cartography (; from grc, χάρτης , "papyrus, sheet of paper, map"; and , "write") is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an ...

, are any division of the globe into two

hemispheres Hemisphere refers to: * A half of a sphere As half of the Earth * A hemisphere of Earth ** Northern Hemisphere ** Southern Hemisphere ** Eastern Hemisphere ** Western Hemisphere ** Land and water hemispheres * A half of the (geocentric) celestia ...

().

Geographical Hemispheres

The primary hemispherical split geographically is made by

latitudinal In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north–south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north ...

(north/south) and longitudinal (east-west) markers: * North–South ** Northern Hemisphere, the half that lies north of the

Equator The equator is a circle of latitude, about in circumference, that divides Earth into the Northern and Southern hemispheres. It is an imaginary line located at 0 degrees latitude, halfway between the North and South poles. The term can al ...

** Southern Hemisphere, the half that lies south of the Equator * East–West ** Eastern Hemisphere, the half that lies east of the prime meridian and west of the 180th meridian ** Western Hemisphere, the half that lies west of the prime meridian and east of the 180th meridian

Alternative Hemispheres

The East–West division can also be seen in a cultural and religious sense, as a division into two cultural and religious hemispheres. Some geographers prefer to split the hemispheres at 20° west and 160° east so that

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

are not split. However, other schemes have sought to divide the planet in a way that maximizes the preponderance of one geographic feature or another in each division: * Land–Water ** Land Hemisphere, the hemisphere on Earth containing the largest possible area of land ** Water Hemisphere, the hemisphere on Earth containing the largest possible area of water Earth may also be split into hemispheres of

day A day is the time period of a full rotation of the Earth with respect to the Sun. On average, this is 24 hours, 1440 minutes, or 86,400 seconds. In everyday life, the word "day" often refers to a solar day, which is the length between two so ...

and

night Night (also described as night time, unconventionally spelled as "nite") is the period of ambient darkness from sunset Sunset, also known as sundown, is the daily disappearance of the Sun below the horizon due to Earth's rotation. As view ...

by the terrestrial

terminator Terminator may refer to: Science and technology Genetics * Terminator (genetics), the end of a gene for transcription * Terminator technology, proposed methods for restricting the use of genetically modified plants by causing second generation s ...

References

External links

{{Hemispheres of the Earth Geography

Geographical Hemispheres

Alternative Hemispheres

See also

References

External links