Lines of Latitude
On a globe of the Earth, lines
of latitude are circles of different sizes going around
the Earth from East to West. The longest is the equator,
whose latitude is zero, while at the poles--at latitudes
90° north and 90° south (or -90°) the circles shrink to
a point.
Three of the most
significant imaginary line running across the surface of
the Earth are the Equator, the Tropic of Cancer and the
Tropic of Capricorn. While the Equator is the longest
line of latitude on the Earth (the line where the earth
is widest in an East-West direction) the tropics are
based on the suns position relative to the Earth at two
points in the year.
The
equator is located at zero degrees latitude. The equator
runs through Indonesia, Ecuador, northern Brazil, the
Democratic Republic of Congo, and Kenya, among other
countries. It is 24,901.55 miles (40,075.16 kilometres)
long. On the equator the sun is directly overhead at
noon on the two equinoxes – near March and September
21st. The equator divides the planet into the Northern
and Southern hemispheres.
The Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic
of Capricorn each lie at 23.5 degrees latitude. The
Tropic of Cancer is located at 23.5 degrees North of the
equator and runs through Mexico, the Bahamas, Egypt,
Saudi Arabia, India and southern China. The Tropic of
Capricorn lies at 23.5 degrees South of the equator and
runs through Australia, Chile, southern Brazil and
northern South Africa.
The
tropics are the two lines where the sun is directly
overhead at noon on the two solstices – near June and
December 21st. The sun is directly overhead at noon on
the Tropic of Cancer on June 21st (the beginning of
Summer in the Northern Hemisphere and the beginning of
Winter in the Southern Hemisphere) and the sun is
directly overhead at noon on the Tropic of Capricorn on
December 21st (the beginning of Winter in the Northern
hemisphere and the beginning of Summer in the Southern
hemisphere).
The area
which has the Tropic of Cancer on the north and the
Tropic of Capricorn on the South is known as the
‘tropics’. This area does not experience seasons because
the sun is always high in the sky. Only higher
latitudes, north of the Tropic of Cancer and south if
the Tropic of Capricorn, experience significant seasonal
variations in climate.
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