Marine and continental hemispheres (IMAGE) University of California - Berkeley Caption As Earth gets closer to the sun in its elliptical orbit, the continent-dominated hemisphere heats up more than the ocean -dominated hemisphere, generating trade winds that affect the cold tongue and likely the El Niño/La Niña cycle that determines whether California gets rain or drought. Credit John Chiang, UC Berkeley Usage Restrictions none License Original content Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.