northern hemisphere

noun

variants: or Northern Hemisphere

|Updated on: 17 Jun 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

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
But in one of the new discoveries, the car-sized rover found that levels of methane in the Martian atmosphere vary widely from season to season, with levels peaking at the end of summer in the planet's northern hemisphere.

— david freeman /, NBC News, "Mars rover Curiosity's new findings hailed as 'breakthroughs in astrobiology'," 7 June 2018
Of course, cheaper prices in the northern hemisphere summer will be welcomed by buyers in South America, as well as in the Middle East and southern Europe where the fuel is used to meet power-generation demand for cooling.

— anna shiryaevskaya, Houston Chronicle, "LNG in for wild ride until China builds storage," 23 Feb. 2018
The sun returns after three (winter) months, as the northern hemisphere shifts back towards it.

— maria carter, Country Living, "The History of Easter Began Long Before Jesus," 9 Feb. 2018
Lijiang's defining geographical feature is Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, an alpine range which soars to a dizzying height of 5,596 meters (18,360 feet) and boasts the southernmost glaciers in the northern hemisphere.

— mei zhang, Town & Country, "How to Plan a Trip to China," 5 Oct. 2016
El Nino is the warm phase of that cycle and occurs during winter in the northern hemisphere.

— jennifer larino, NOLA.com, "The 2018 Atlantic hurricane season will be near- to above-normal, NOAA says," 24 May 2018
Larger waves have been recorded in the northern hemisphere, according to the outlet.

— stephen sorace, Fox News, "Massive wave sets southern hemisphere record, scientists say," 11 May 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.