southern hemisphere
The Southern Hemisphere[Merriam Webster's Online Dictionary (based on Collegiate vol., 11th ed.) 2006. Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, Inc.] is the half of a planet that is south of the equator—the word hemisphere literally means 'half ball'. It is also that half of the celestial sphere south of the celestial equator.
Earth's southern hemisphere contains four continents (Antarctica, Australia, most of South America, and parts of Africa), and four oceans (South Atlantic, Indian, South Pacific, and Southern). Several islands off the Asian continental mainland are also in the Southern Hemisphere. Due to the tilt of Earth's rotation relative to the Sun and the ecliptic plane, Summer is December 21 through March 21 and winter is June 21 through to September 21.
Geography
Climates in the southern hemisphere overall tend to be slightly milder than those in the northern hemisphere except in the Antarctic which is colder than the Arctic. This is because the southern hemisphere has significantly more ocean and less land. Water heats up and cools down more slowly than land. The southern hemisphere is also significantly less polluted than the northern hemisphere because of lower overall population densities (a total of 10 to 12% of the human population), lower levels of industrialisation, and smaller land masses (air currents run mostly west–east so pollution does not easily spread north or south). The tallest man-made structure in the Southern Hemisphere is the Woodside Omega Transmitter in Victoria, Australia.
In the southern hemisphere the sun passes from east to west through the north, although north of the Tropic of Capricorn the mean sun can be directly overhead or due south at midday. The sun rotating through the north causes an apparent right-left trajectory through the sky unlike the left-right motion of the sun when seen from the northern hemisphere as it passes through the southern sky. Sun-cast shadows turn anticlockwise through the day (sun dials have the hours in reverse). 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 Moon appears the opposite way up to how it appears in the northern hemisphere.
The southern temperate zone, a subsection of the southern hemisphere, is nearly all oceanic. The only countries that lie entirely within this zone are Uruguay, Lesotho and New Zealand. Countries lying partly in the zone are Chile (most of), Argentina (most of), Paraguay, Brazil, Namibia, Botswana, South Africa (most of), Mozambique, Madagascar and Australia.
The south pole is oriented towards the galactic center 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
 Antarctica
Africa (approximately 1/3 of it - from south of Libreville in Gabon in the west to south of Somalia in the east)
Australia
South America (mostly, south of the Amazon river mouth in the east and Quito in the west)
African countries
;Entirely
Angola
Botswana
Burundi
Comoros
Lesotho
Madagascar
Malawi
Mauritius
Mozambique
Namibia
Rwanda
Seychelles
South Africa
Swaziland
Tanzania
Zambia
Zimbabwe
;Mostly
Democratic Republic of Congo
Gabon
Republic of the Congo
;Partly
Equatorial Guinea
Kenya
Somalia
São Tomé and Príncipe
Uganda
Asian countries
Note: The parts of these countries that are in the Southern Hemisphere are not part of the Asian continental mainland.
;Entirely
East Timor
;Mostly
Indonesia
;Partly
Maldives
Oceania countries
;Entirely
Australia
Fiji
Nauru
New Zealand
Papua New Guinea
Samoa
Solomon Islands
Tonga
Tuvalu
Vanuatu
;Mostly
Kiribati
South American countries
;Entirely
Argentina
Bolivia
Chile
Paraguay
Peru
Uruguay
;Mostly
Brazil
Ecuador
;Partly
Colombia
Other territories
See also
Northern Hemisphere
Seasons
Solstice
Equinox
Tropic of Capricorn
Crux (or Southern Cross)
References
popo
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