Southern Hemisphere

The half of Earth south of the equator, containing parts of Africa, South America, and Asia, most of Oceania, and all of Antarctica.

Equator: The imaginary great circle at 0° latitude that divides Earth into Northern and Southern Hemispheres. It is the boundary that defines the hemisphere.
Seasons: Recurring annual periods shaped by changes in sunlight, temperature, and weather. Seasonal timing is opposite that of the Northern Hemisphere.
Northern Hemisphere: The half of Earth north of the equator. Its seasonal cycle is opposite, and its land distribution differs sharply.
Amazon rainforest: A vast tropical rainforest in the Amazon Basin of South America. It exemplifies the hemisphere's extensive tropical environments.
Latitude: A geographic coordinate measuring angular distance north or south of the equator. Latitude locates places within the hemisphere.
Tropical cyclone: A rotating storm system that forms over warm tropical oceans and has organized thunderstorms. Cyclones rotate clockwise south of the equator because of Earth's rotation.
Intertropical Convergence Zone: A belt of low pressure near the equator where trade winds converge and air rises. Its seasonal migration shifts tropical rainfall across parts of this hemisphere.
Atacama Desert: A hyperarid plateau and desert along the Pacific coast of northern Chile. It shows how cold currents and topography create extreme dryness at southern latitudes.
Earth's axial tilt: The angle between Earth's rotational axis and the perpendicular to its orbital plane, about 23.4 degrees. It makes the hemisphere's seasonal sunlight shift during Earth's orbit.
Coriolis effect: The apparent deflection of moving objects caused by observing motion in a rotating reference frame. Its direction reverses across the equator, affecting winds and ocean currents here.

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