Land and water hemispheres

Land hemisphere

Water hemisphere

Front-view equal-area maps of each hemisphere

Side-view equal-area maps (land hemisphere top, water hemisphere bottom)

The land hemisphere and water hemisphere are the hemispheres of Earth containing the largest possible total areas of land and ocean, respectively. By definition (assuming that the entire surface can be classed as either "land" or "ocean"), the two hemispheres do not overlap.

Determinations of the hemispheres vary slightly. One determination places the centre of the land hemisphere at 47°13′N 1°32′W / 47.217°N 1.533°W / 47.217; -1.533 (in the city of Nantes, France).^[1] The centre of the water hemisphere is the antipode of the centre of the land hemisphere, and is therefore located at 47°13′S 178°28′E / 47.217°S 178.467°E / -47.217; 178.467 (near New Zealand's Bounty Islands in the Pacific Ocean).

An alternative assignment determines the centre of the land hemisphere to be at 47°24′42″N 2°37′15″W / 47.411667°N 2.620833°W / 47.411667; -2.620833 (in Île Dumet [fr] near Piriac-sur-Mer, France).^[2][3] The centre of the water hemisphere is located at 47°24′42″S 177°22′45″E / 47.411667°S 177.379167°E / -47.411667; 177.379167 (near New Zealand's Bounty Islands in the Pacific Ocean). In comparison the geographic center of the Pacific Ocean, the main ocean of the water hemisphere, is further north-east, in eastern Kiribati south of Kiritimati, just west from Starbuck Island at 4°58′S 158°45′W / 4.97°S 158.75°W / -4.97; -158.75.^[4] The oceanic pole of inaccessibility, known as Point Nemo and for being the so-called spacecraft cemetery, lies east at 49°01′38″S 123°26′04″W / 49.0273°S 123.4345°W / -49.0273; -123.4345 (Oceanic Pole of Inaccessibility).