Longitude and Latitude
· LATITUDE (NORTH AND SOUTH)
o Latitude divides the world into Northern hemisphere and Southern hemisphere.
(90 degrees north, 90 degrees south)
o Latitude helps determine temperature.
§ Countries near the equator are ______
§ When the Northern hemisphere is winter, the southern hemisphere is ______
o The major parallels of latitude are
§ Equator (0 degrees latitude)
§ Tropic of Cancer (23 degrees North) - The most northerly latitude at which the sun can appear directly overhead at noon
§ Tropic of Capricorn (23 degrees South) - the most southerly latitude at which the sun can appear directly overhead at noon.
§ Antarctic circle (66 degrees South) - Every place south of the Antarctic Circle experiences a period of twenty-four hours' continuous daylight at least once per year, and a period of twenty-four hours' continuous nighttime at least once per year. That is to say, there is at least one whole day during which the sun does not set (in December), and at least one whole day during which the sun does not rise (June)
§ Arctic circle (66 degrees North) - Every place north of the Arctic Circle experiences a period of twenty-four hours' continuous daylight at least once per year, and a period of twenty-four hours' continuous nighttime at least once per year. That is to say, there is at least one whole day during which the sun does not set (in June), and at least one whole day during which the sun does not rise (Dec)
· LONGITUDE (EAST AND WEST)
o The world is divided into 360 degrees of longitude (180 degrees East, 180 degrees West)
o The Prime Meridian lies at 0 degrees longitude.
o The Prime Meridian or Greenwich mean time, is the point at which time is measured. It is also called Universal Coordinated Time which uses 24 hour time.
o The international date line at 180 degree. Any country east of the date line is 1 day ahead of the west.
· Measured in degrees / minutes / seconds
Degrees of longitude and latitude have been divided into minutes (') and seconds ("). There are 60 minutes in each degree. Each minute is divided into 60 seconds. Seconds can be further divided into tenths, hundredths, or even thousandths.
· Distance between lines
If you divide the circumference of the earth (approximately 40 233km) by 360 degrees, the distance on the earth's surface for each one degree of latitude or longitude is just over 69 miles, or 111 km. Note: As you move north or south of the equator, the distance between the lines of longitude gets shorter until they actually meet at the poles. At 45 degrees N or S of the equator, one degree of longitude is about 78 miles.