Latitude Lines
What are latitude lines? How are they measured, and where can I find them on the globe?
What is latitude?
Latitude lines are geographic coordinates used to distinguish the north and south sides of the Earth. Lines of constant latitude, also called parallels, run from east to west in circles parallel to the equator. They go perpendicular to the lines of longitude, which run from the north to the south.
What is the Equator?
The equator is the latitude line that runs east to west along the globe’s middle. It runs along the Earth’s rotational axis and represents the part of the earth closest to the sun. Each of the latitude lines that run parallel to the equator is measured with the equator.
The equator is found at 0 degrees latitude. Therefore, each of the latitude lines above, or north, of the equator is measured in positive degrees. Each of the latitude lines below the equator is measured in negative degrees, with the furthest being the poles.
What are the poles?
The poles are the furthest distance from the equator that you can be. They are found at -90 degrees south and 90 degrees north, where all Longitude lines (LINK) intersect.
Other significant latitude lines:
- The Arctic circle
- The tropic of Cancer
- The tropics of Capricorn
- The Antarctic Circle
What is the tropic of cancer?
The tropic of cancer is the halfway point between the equator and the north pole.
What is the Tropic of Capricorn?
The halfway point between the equator and the south pole.
What is the Arctic Circle?
The arctic circle is the northernmost point on the earth. The arctic pole is in the middle of the arctic circle- where all the longitude lines intersect at one point.
What is the Antarctic Circle?
The Antarctic Circle is the southernmost part of the earth. The middle of the antarctic circle is on the exact opposite side of the Earth as the arctic pole.
