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In geography and geodesy, a meridian is the locus connecting points of equal longitude, which is the angle (in degrees or other units) east or west of a given prime meridian (currently, the IERS Reference Meridian). [ 1 ] In other words, it is a line of longitude. The position of a point along the meridian is given by that longitude and its ...
meridian, imaginary north–south line on the Earth’s surface that connects both geographic poles; it is used to indicate longitude. The 40th meridian, for example, has a longitude of 40° E or 40° W. See latitude and longitude. The prime meridian is zero degrees longitude and divides Earth into the Western and Eastern hemisphere s.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Greenwich meridian, an imaginary line, last established in 1851, used to indicate zero degrees longitude. It passes through Greenwich, London, and ends at the North and South poles. Because it indicated zero degrees longitude, it was also known as the prime meridian. It served as the internationally recognized prime meridian from 1884 to 1984, when it was superseded by the International Reference Meridian (IRM), which differs from it only slightly.
- Pre-Greenwich
- Etymology
- International Meridian Conference
- Geographic
- Effect of Prime Meridian
- Magnetic Meridian
- True Meridian
- Meridian Passage
- Standard Meridian
- Measurement of Earth Rotation
The first prime meridian was set by Eratosthenes in 200 BC. This prime meridian was used to provide measurement of the earth, but had many problems because of the lack of latitude measurement.Many years later around the 19th century there were still concerns of the prime meridian. Multiple locations for the geographical meridian meant that there wa...
The term meridian comes from the Latin meridies, meaning "midday"; the subsolar point passes through a given meridian at solar noon, midway between the times of sunrise and sunset on that meridian. Likewise, the Sun crosses the celestial meridian at the same time. The same Latin stem gives rise to the terms a.m. (ante meridiem) and p.m. (post merid...
See main article: article and International Meridian Conference. Because of a growing international economy, there was a demand for a set international prime meridian to make it easier for worldwide traveling which would, in turn, enhance international trading across countries. As a result, a Conference was held in 1884, in Washington, D.C. Twenty-...
Toward the ending of the 12th century there were two main locations that were acknowledged as the geographic location of the meridian, France and Britain. These two locations often conflicted and a settlement was reached only after there was an International Meridian Conference held, in which Greenwich was recognized as the 0° location. The meridia...
It was in the best interests of the nations to agree to one standard meridian to benefit their fast growing economy and production. The disorganized system they had before was not sufficient for their increasing mobility. The coach services in England had erratic timing before the GWT. United States and Canada were also improving their railroad sys...
The magnetic meridian is an equivalent imaginary line connecting the magnetic south and north poles and can be taken as the horizontal component of magnetic force lines along the surface of the Earth. Therefore, a compass needle will be parallel to the magnetic meridian. However, a compass needle will not be steady in the magnetic meridian, because...
The true meridian is the chord that goes from one pole to the other, passing through the observer, and is contrasted with the magnetic meridian, which goes through the magnetic poles and the observer. The true meridian can be found by careful astronomical observations, and the magnetic meridian is simply parallel to the compass needle. The arithmet...
The meridian passageis the moment when a celestial object passes the meridian of longitude of the observer. At this point, the celestial object is at its highest point. When the Sun passes two times an altitude while rising and setting can be averaged to give the time of meridian passage. Navigators utilized the Sun's declination and the Sun's alti...
A standard meridian is a meridian used for determining standard time. For instance, the 30th meridian east is the standard meridian for Eastern European Time. Since the adoption of time zones – as opposed to local mean time or solar time – in the late 19th century and early 20th century, most countries have adopted the standard time of one of the 2...
Many of these instruments rely on the ability to measure the longitude and latitude of the Earth. These instruments also were typically affected by local gravity, which paired well with existing technologies such as the magnetic meridian.
Jun 26, 2023 · The Prime Meridian is an imaginary line that divides the Earth into Eastern and Western Hemispheres. It is the longitude line with a value of 0 degrees and runs from the North Pole to the South Pole, passing through the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London. The Prime Meridian has played a significant role in history and continues to have a ...
Oct 19, 2023 · The prime meridian is the line of 0° longitude, the starting point for measuring distance both east and west around Earth. The prime meridian is arbitrary, meaning it could be chosen to be anywhere. Any line of longitude (a meridian) can serve as the 0° longitude line. However, there is an international agreement that the meridian that runs ...
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Jun 19, 2024 · What is a Meridian in Geography? In geography, a meridian is an imaginary line that forms a great circle and passes through the Earth’s North and South geographic poles. It is a vertical line that connects both poles and is used to indicate longitude. The Earth is divided into 360 degrees of longitude, with each degree representing one meridian.
