Parts of the Globe
Prime Meridian
-starting point for longitude at o degrees
-line of longitude
-passes Royal Observatory, Greenwich, England
-The Royal Observatory, Greenwich is an observatory
situated on a hill in Greenwich Park, overlooking the
River Thames. It played a major role in the history of
astronomy and navigation, and is best known for the
fact that the prime meridian passes through it, and
thereby gave its name to Greenwich Mean Time
The equator
- is a line which is not real drawn around a sphere or planet, such
as the Earth
-one of the lines known as a line of latitude, or circle of latitude
-the name "equator" is Latin for "even-maker"; at equator the day
and night are exactly the same length around the year.
- is halfway between the North Pole and the South Pole
- the equator divides the surface into the northern
hemisphere and the southern hemisphere.
There are five circles of latitude that are named because of the
role they play in the geometrical relationship with
the Earth and the Sun:
•
Arctic Circle: 66° 33' 39" N
•Tropic of Cancer: 23° 26' 22" N
•Equator: 0° 0' 0"
•Tropic of Capricorn: 23° 26' 22" S
•Antarctic Circle: 66° 33' 39" S
Each of the five main latitude regions of the earth's surface marks the boundary
between the so called geographical zones. The differences between them relate
to climate, and the behaviors of the sun.
§The North Frigid Zone, north of the Arctic Circle
§The North Temperate Zone, between the Arctic Circle and the Tropic of Cancer
§The Torrid Zone, between the Tropics of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn (the
Tropics)
§The South Temperate Zone, between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Antarctic
Circle
§The South Frigid Zone, south of the Antarctic Circle
The Tropics
The tropics are the geographic region of the Earth centered on the equator and
limited in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the northern hemisphere, at
approximately 23° 26' (23.5°) N latitude, and the Tropic of Capricorn in
the southern hemisphere at 23° 26' (23.5°) S. This area includes all the parts of
the Earth where the sun reaches a point directly overhead at least once during
the solar year.
Tropical plants and animals are those species native to the tropics. Tropical is
also sometimes used in a general sense for a tropical climate, a climate that is
warm to hot and moist year-round, often with the sense of lush vegetation.
However, there are places in the tropics that are anything but "tropical" in this
sense, with even alpine tundra and snow-capped peaks, including Mauna Kea,
Mt. Kilimanjaro, and the Andes as far south as the northernmost parts of Chile
and Argentina. Places in the tropics which are drier with low humidity but
extreme heat are the Sahara Desert, Central Africa, and Northern Australian
Outback.
The temperate zone
The north temperate zone extends from the Tropic of Cancer at about 23.5 degrees
north latitude to the Arctic Circle at about 66.5 degrees north latitude. The south
temperate zone extends from the Tropic of Capricorn at about 23.5 degrees south
latitude to the Antarctic Circle at about 66.5 degrees south latitude. These regions
experience four seasons, spring, summer, autumn and winter. Within these borders
there are many individual climate types, which are generally grouped into two
categories; continental and maritime, or Oceanic climate.
The difference in these regions between summer and winter are generally subtle,
warm or cool (relatively speaking), rather than extreme, burning hot or freezing
cold. However, a temperate climate can have very unpredictable weather and violent
storms especially in spring and summer. The weather pattern can change rapidly;
one day it may be sunny, the next it may be raining, and after that it may be cloudy.
These erratic weather patterns occur in summer as well as winter.
Polar climate
There are two distinct types of polar climate.
The tundra climate is the less severe of the two, and
there is at least one month that has an average
temperature of above freezing. The second type of
polar climate is known by various names including
the "ice cap climate" and the "perpetual frost climate"
and features sub-freezing average temperatures year-
round.
