The Odd Symmetry Between Earth's Northern and Southern Hemispheres Is Breaking Down

Although Earth’s two hemispheres lie on opposite sides of the planet and differ in many ways, they share a peculiar commonality—or at least they used to. The Northern and Southern Hemispheres reflected nearly the same amount of sunlight back into space. This balance, though long considered odd, is now coming undone, as new data reveals that one side of Earth is darkening faster than the other.

Using 24 years’ worth of data from NASA’s Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES) mission, a team of scientists discovered that the Northern Hemisphere is absorbing more sunlight than the Southern Hemisphere. This shift in Earth’s energy balance could have lasting impacts on weather patterns, rainfall, and the overall climate in the coming decades, a new study published in the Procee