Introduction to Everyday

Science

Lecture 6: Latitudes and Longitudes

• Latitudes and Longitudes are imaginary lines that run horizontally and vertically across the globe.
• They give the absolute location of the place- make up the grid system that helps us identify precise
locations on the Earth’s surface. Latitudes and longitudes can be used to identify specific locations and
landmarks. They are helpful in navigation and traveling.
• Latitudes help determine the Climate of a Place, whereas longitudes determine Time Zones.
Location
of
Pakistan
• 30.37 degrees North
(latitude) and
69.345 degrees East
(longitude)
• Time Zone +5 GMT
Latitudes Longitudes
Are horizontal lines that run East to West Are vertical lines that run North to South
Divide the globe into Northern and Southern Divide the globe into Eastern and Western
Hemisphere Hemisphere
Run 0-90 degrees North and 0-90 degrees South Run 0-180 degrees East and 0-180 degrees West
Reference latitude is the Equator Reference longitude is Prime Meridian
Also known as Parallels of Latitude Also known as Meridians of Longitude
180 in number 360 in number
Important Latitudes
Latitudes and
Climate
Zones
 • The temperature of a location is determined by
its latitude. Regions situated at higher altitudes
and further away from the equator receive less
sunlight, resulting in cooler temperatures.
Conversely, places located closer to the equator,
which has a latitude of 0, receive more sunlight
and are warmer than areas located at higher
latitudes.
• The Poles and the Equator have constant
Latitud temperatures, affected only by day/night cycles.
Between them (the latitudes), the sun’s angle
throughout the year changes enough to create
es significant cyclic variations in the day/night cycle
temperatures called seasons.
• Earth's climate can be divided into three major
zones: the coldest polar zone, the warm and
humid tropical zone, and the moderate
temperate zone
Latitudes
 Tropical Zone
The tropical climate zone stretches from the
Tropic of Cancer at 23.5 degrees north latitude
to the Tropic of Capricorn at 23.5 degrees south
latitude, with the equator centered within this
zone.
Earth`s Climate Climate within the tropical zone varies from the
tropical wet regions of the rain forest to the drier
Zones arid and semi-arid climate of North Africa or
central Australia.
Within the tropical wet zone, the weather
remains hot and muggy, with frequent rainfall
and little temperature variation. The arid and
semi-arid regions experience wet, warm
summers and cooler, drier winters, with much
greater temperature variation than the tropical
wet zone.
 Temperate Zone
Extending from the southern edge of the Arctic
Circle to the Tropic of Cancer in the northern
hemisphere, and the northern edge of the Antarctic
Circle to the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern
hemisphere, the temperate climate zone falls
between 23.5 degrees and 66.5 degrees north and
south latitudes.
Earth`s Climate Temperate climate zones experience warm to hot
summers and cool winters, with the greatest
Zones temperature variations throughout the year of any
climate zone.
The climate within the temperate regions ranges
from the cold, snowy winters of New England to
the balmy, moderate weather associated with the
Mediterranean or Southern California. Much of the
United States, Europe, and the southern half of
South America fall within this climate zone.
 Polar Zone
The polar climate zones fill the areas within the
Arctic and Antarctic Circles, extending from 66.5
degrees north and south latitude to the poles.
Characterized by a short, cool summer and long,
bitterly cold winter, the polar zone features
frequent snowfall, particularly during the winter
Earth`s Climate months.
Zones The far northern portions of Canada, Europe,
and Russia fall within this climate zone. Farther
north and south, the ice caps that makeup
Greenland and Antarctica represent a sub-zone
of the polar climate region known as the ice cap
zone. Within the ice caps, temperatures rarely, if
ever, rise above freezing, even during the
warmest months of the year.
Earth`s Climate Zones
Longitudes
• Lines of LONGITUDE/ Meridians run from the North Pole
to the South Pole
• They are measured in degrees East and degrees West
• 0 degrees is found in Greenwich, England- Prime
Meridian
• Longitude is used to help determine Time Zones.
• The time at Greenwich is called Greenwich Mean Time
(GMT). As you move west from Greenwich, every 15-
degree section or time zone is an hour earlier than GMT,
while each time zone to the east is an hour later
• There are 24 time zones because there are 24 hours in a
day.
• The International Date Line is an imaginary line of
demarcation on the surface of Earth that runs from the North
Pole to the South Pole and demarcates the change of one
calendar day to the next.
 Latitudes and Longitudes

Major latitudes

Summa Climate zones of the world: Tropical