The uncanny resemblance between the northern hemispheres and the world is devastating

Although the two hemispheres of the world lie on opposite sides of the planet and are different in many ways, they share an unusual balance – or at least they used to. The northern and southern hemispheres reflect about the same amount of sunlight back into space. This balance, while long considered odd, now appears to be feasible, as new data reveals that one side of the world is darkening faster than the other.

Using 24 years of data from NASA’s cloud and Earth’s Radiant Energy program, a team of scientists discovered that the Northern Hemisphere receives more sunlight than the southern hemisphere. This shift in the Earth’s energy balance has lasting effects on future weather patterns, precipitation and overall climate, new research published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science suggests.

A delicate balance

Earth receives energy from the sun and reflects part of it back into space. This absorption is known as Albedo, a measure of the percentage of sunlight reflected on the surface. Throughout the year, the southern and northern hemispheres receive the same amount of energy from the sun, each receiving more sunlight at different times of the year.

The southern hemisphere is dominated by oceans, which absorb more sunlight, while the northern hemisphere has more land and less sea ice, which absorbs heat faster and reflects less sunlight. In the early 2000s, satellite data revealed that the two objects reflected the same amount of solar energy back into space. Scientists expected the hemispheres to be different, but the data showed that the clouds in the southern hemisphere were less active and more reflective, and therefore compared to the dark area in the northern hemisphere.

New research, however, suggests that this next trend is coming to an end. NASA’s CENES, launched in 1997, measures the amount of sunlight absorbed by the Earth and the amount of infrared energy absorbed by space. The group behind the study of Ceres Ceres from 2001 to 2024 and found that the Northern HEMISPHERE draws about 0.34 watt more solar energy per square meter.

The group’s analysis points to three main driving factors behind the emerging imbalance: melting ice and snow, decreasing air pollution, and rising water levels.

“It made a lot of sense,” Noreb scientists, a climate scientist at the Langley Research Center and lead author of the new study, told Ehoo. “The Northern Hemisphere strip gets darker because the ice and snow are melting. That exposes the land and the ocean underneath. And the pollution goes down in places like china, in the hemisphere, it’s the opposite.”

In addition, the Northern hemisphere warms faster and therefore holds more water vapor, which tends to absorb sunlight rather than reflect it. “This is another reason the Northern Hemisphere absorbs more heat,” added Loeb.

Research notes that clouds naturally favor hemispheric asymmetry. Because of this, there should be a reflection of clouds over the northern hemisphere of the southern hemisphere. The data, however, shows no change in cloud cover so far. “Cloud responses to these fundamental imbalances have important consequences for future climate,” the study said.