What is a meridian? What are the features? – Tamindir

What is a meridian? Have you ever wondered what those vertical lines that we encounter when we look at the maps or using navigation? These lines are meridians who play a critical role in understanding our planet and determining our position.

What does meridian mean? What are the meridian features? We have prepared a guide for people who are curious about the answer to these and similar questions. Here are the dreams about the lines that are so important!

What does meridian mean? Simply definition

Meridians are half circles of imaginary surrounding the Earth, starting from the North Pole and reaching the South Pole. You can think of it as the slices of orange, but these are vertical slices. They need us for two basic things in the geography:

• Location determination: They are used to determine the east-west position of a point, ie the longitude.
• TIME PICTURES: Depending on the return of the Earth, meridians are used to determine local hours in different places.

The starting point, which is accepted as 0 degrees of meridians, is called the initial meridian. This meridian is often referred to as “Greenwich Meridian” because it passes through the town of Greenwich, England. All other meridians are expressed in degrees according to this initial meridian (east or west longitude).

What are the meridian features?

• They are all half circles: Meridians are not the full circles surrounding the Earth, but semic apartments extending between the north and south polar points. When a meridian and the anti-midian opposite it are combined, only a complete circle is formed.
• They all combine at the poles: All meridians intersect and unite in the North polar point in the north and south polar point in the south. This is the most basic feature that distinguishes them from latitudes that extend parallel to the equator.
• Their length is equal: The length of all meridians extending between the poles is approximately equal to each other (an average of 20.004.5 km). Considering that parallels are shortened as they go to the poles from the Ecuador, this is an important difference for meridians.
• The distance between meridian is not equal: The real distance between the two consecutive meridians varies according to the latitude on Earth. The widest distance is on the equator (about 111.3 km), as it goes to the poles, this distance goes to zero. The meridians in the poles adhere to each other.
• They specify the longitude value: Meridians show the longitude value that expresses the degree, minutes and seconds in the east or west of a place according to the initial meridian (0 °).
• They determine the local time difference: The local time difference between two consecutive meridians is fixed everywhere and is 4 minutes. This feature, which is directly related to the speed of rotation around the Earth’s own axis, is based on the determination of time periods. East is going back to the east, and the west is going back to the west.

These features form the basis of the geographical coordinate system and positioning and time calculations on the world.

How many km between two meridians?

How many km between two meridians? This is one of the most frequently asked questions, but as we have mentioned, the distance between the two meridians varies according to your position on Earth.

• On the equator: The distance between the two consecutive meridians is about 111.3 kilometers. This is the place where meridians are farthest each other.
• Towards the poles: As the Ecuador goes to the poles, the meridians approach each other. For example, at the 40 ° latitude, this distance drops to approximately 85 km, while the distance in the poles is zero.

Therefore, there is no single answer to this problem. This depends on where you are. Let us explain why the distance between the two meridians is not fixed and how it changes according to our latitude, without drowning in mathematical details.

First of all, let us remember the basic principle: Meridians are the farthest in the Ecuador and unite towards the poles. In other words, the distance between the Ecuador decreases.

There is a simple formula used to calculate this distance: Distance between two meridians (km) ≈ 111.3 km × cos (latitude degree)

Now let’s explain this formula step by step and simply explain:

111.3 km: This number is the approximate distance between two consecutive meridians (ie two meridians with a length of 1 degree length) on the equator, the world’s widest part. This is what we can get largest distance.

COS (degree of latitude): The “cos” here is a mathematical function and serves as a “reduction factor” for us.

• COS (0) = 1 in the equator (0 degrees latitude). So the distance in the equator = 111.3 km * 1 = 111.3 km (maximum distance, no shrinkage).
• In the poles (90 degrees latitude) COS (90) = 0. In other words, the distance in the poles is = 111.3 km * 0 = 0 km (meridian merger, the distance is reset).
• In the latitude between 0 and 90 degrees, the coinus value is between 0 and 1. This number tells how much we need to reduce the 111.3 km distance in the Ecuador according to our latitude. As the latitude increases (as it approaches the pole), the cosine value shrinks, so the distance between the meridian shrinks.

X (çarpma): We find the maximum distance (111.3 km) in the equator (111.3 km) and the “reduction factor” (Cosinus value) of our latitude.

How many meridians are there in the world?

If we think of the Earth as a sphere, it is 360 degrees. Considering that the initial meridian is 0 degrees:

• 180 Meridian (Eastern longitudes) to the east of the initial meridian
• 180 Meridian (Western longitudes) to the west of the starter Meridian

Is found. When the initial meridian (0 °) and 180 ° meridian is counted, there are a total of 360 meridians in degrees. This 360 Meridian allocates the Earth 360 different paintings.

What is anti Meridian?

The word “anti” means “opposite”. Therefore, the anti -meridian is a meridian, 180 degrees away from any meridian.

• The most well -known anti -meridian is 180 ° Meridian, the anti -meridian of 0 ° starter meridian.
• The 180 ° meridian coincides with the International History Change Line, and this line changes when the passage is switched on.

For example, the anti -meridian of a place in the east -length of 30 ° is the meridian in the western longitude of the western length of 180 – 30 = 150 °.