northern hemisphere

noun

variants: or Northern Hemisphere

|Updated on: 29 Jul 2018

Definition of northern hemisphere

: the half of the earth that lies north of the equator

See northern hemisphere defined for kids

Recent Examples of northern hemisphere from the Web

The atmosphere is somewhat innocuous with lots of general warmth in the northern Hemisphere.

— dave epstein, BostonGlobe.com, "What’s the weather going to be like the rest of the summer?," 6 July 2018
In the northern hemisphere, the summer solstice usually occurs on June 21, when the Earth’s northern pole is at its maximum tilt toward the sun.

— Smithsonian, "Andean Solstice Celebrations Capture the Wondrous Churn of Spacetime," 22 June 2018
Thursday marks the 2018 summer solstice, or the longest day of the year for those living in the northern hemisphere.

— patricia madej, Philly.com, "Summer solstice 2018: What it is and how to celebrate in Philly," 21 June 2018
The summer solstice is an annual astronomical phenomenon that brings the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere (and the shortest night).

— tom metcalfe /, NBC News, "What is the summer solstice?," 20 June 2018
If we in the northern hemisphere are tipped towards the sun, then the southern part of the planet must be tipped away and therefore receiving less direct sunlight and a shorter sun arc.

— madeline mitchell, Cincinnati.com, "Summer solstice: What is it and why does it happen?," 20 June 2018
The sea ice on the top of Earth has been on an unmistakable downward trend, which is consistent with the greater concentration of warming in the northern hemisphere.

— john schwartz, New York Times, "Trump Says Climate Is Both ‘Cooling’ and ‘Heating.’ He’s Only Half Right.," 29 Jan. 2018
Get our daily newsletter Intriguingly, though, the concentration of methane appears to vary with the Martian seasons, peaking at 0.65 ppb in the northern hemisphere’s summer and falling to 0.24 ppb in the winter.

— The Economist, "Seasonal changes in Mars’s air are probably not signs of life. Probably," 7 June 2018
Those levels of methane, however, were found to range from 0.2 to about 0.7 parts per billion, with concentrations peaking near the end of the summer in the northern hemisphere, according to a study published today in Science.

— alessandra potenza, The Verge, "NASA’s Curiosity rover discovers that methane on Mars changes with the seasons," 7 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'northern hemisphere.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.