EXTREME POINTS OF THE WORLD

This is a list of lists of 'extreme points of the World', the points that are farther north, south, east or west than any other locations on the landmasses, continents or countries.

The World

Latitude and longitude

★ The 'northernmost point of the World' is the geographic North Pole, in the Arctic Ocean.

★ The 'northernmost point on land' is Kaffeklubben Island, north of Greenland (), which lies slightly north of Cape Morris Jesup, Greenland (). Various shifting gravel bars lie further north, the most famous being Oodaaq. It is possible that Schmitt's Island, which lies just north of Kaffeklubben, is a permanent island. The term ''Ultima Thule'' was given by medieval cartographers for the northernmost point of land.

★ The 'southernmost point of the World' and the 'southernmost point on land' is the geographic South Pole, which is on the continent of Antarctica.

★ The 'westernmost and easternmost points of the World', based on the normal practice of using longitude, can be found anywhere along the 180th meridian in Siberian Russia (including Wrangel Island), Antarctica, or the three islands of Fiji through which the 180th meridian passes (Vanua Levu's eastern peninsula, the middle of Taveuni, and the western part of Rabi.)

★ The 'westernmost point on land', according to the path of the International Date Line, would be Attu Island, Alaska.

★ The 'easternmost point on land', according to the path of the International Date Line, would be Caroline Island, Kiribati.¹
¹A 1995 realignment of the International Date Line ([1]) moved all of Kiribati to the Asian side of the Date Line, causing Caroline Island to be the easternmost. However, if the original Date Line were followed, the easternmost point would be Tafahi Niuatoputapu, in the Tonga Islands chain.

Altitude

★ The 'highest point' measured from sea level is the summit of Mount Everest. While measurements of its height vary slightly, the elevation of its peak is usually given as 8,848 m (29,028 feet) above sea level.

★ The 'lowest point' is Challenger Deep, at the bottom of the Mariana Trench: 10,911 m (35,797 feet) below sea level [2].

★ The 'lowest point on dry land' is the shore of the Dead Sea, 418 m below sea level. ''See List of places on land with elevations below sea level''

★ The 'lowest point on land not covered by liquid water' is the floor of the Bentley Subglacial Trench: 2,555 m below sea level. ''See the Extremes on Earth page.'' ''See List of places on land with elevations below sea level''

★ The 'point farthest from the Earth's centre' is widely reported to be the summit of Chimborazo (due to the Earth not being a perfect sphere), at 6384.4 km. (Everest's summit is at 6382.3 km.) However, Huascarán is a very close contender, within the 2 m measured error, if each mountain's reported height is correct.

★ The 'point closest to the Earth's centre' (~6353 km) is probably somewhere at the bottom of the Arctic Ocean (depth ~4 km) near the Geographic North pole (the bottom of the Mariana Trench is 6366.4 km from the centre of the Earth).

Highest attainable by transportation

★ 'Road (dead end):' Aucanquilcha, Chile, , mining road to summit of volcano, once usable by 20-ton mining trucks^[1] The road is no longer usable.

★ 'Road (mountain pass):' Possibly Semo La, Tibet, , or Marsimik La, Indian Himalaya, depending on definition of "attainable by transportation". There may be higher motorable passes in Tibet, in areas affected by lack of information and restricted access. See Khardung La, 5,359 m for more information.

★ 'Train:' Tanggula Mountain Pass, in the Tanggula Mountains, Tibet,

★ 'Airport:' Qamdo Bangda Airport, Tibet, ^[2]

★ 'Boat:' Lake Titicaca (the highest ''navigable'' lake), on the border of Peru and Bolivia in the Andes,

Highest geographical features

★ 'Lake:' There is an unnamed crater lake on Ojos del Salado (which itself is the world's highest volcano) at ^[3], on the Argentina-Chile border. Another candidate is Lhagba Pool, Mount Everest, Tibet, at an altitude of ^[4].

★ 'Glacier:' This is probably the Siachen Glacier, in the Karakoram mountain range; the source is at an altitude of . The area of this glacier lies along the disputed India-Pakistan border.

★ 'River:' Yarlung Tsangpo river, Tibet, whose source is above sea level^[5].

★ 'Island:' There are a number of islands in the Orba Co lake, which is located at an altitude of in Tibet^[6].

Remoteness

★ The 'Eurasian pole of inaccessibility', the point on land farthest from any ocean, is located approximately 320 km (200 mi) from the city of Urumqi, in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region of China, at (in the Dzoosotoyn Elisen Desert). This position is at a distance of approximately 2648 km (1645 mi) from the nearest coastline.

★ The 'Pacific pole of inaccessibility' (also called ''Point Nemo''), the point in the ocean farthest from any land, lies in the South Pacific Ocean at , which is approximately 2688 km (1670 mi) from the nearest land (equidistant from Ducie Island in the Pitcairn Islands to the north, Maher Island off Siple Island near Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica to the south and Motu Nui off Rapa Nui in the north east). It is in the middle of an area of 22,405,411 km² (8,650,778 sq mi) of ocean, larger than the entire former Soviet Union.

★ The 'most remote island' is Bouvet Island, an uninhabited and small Norwegian island in the South Atlantic Ocean. It lies at coordinates . The nearest land is the uninhabited Queen Maud Land, Antarctica, over 1600 km away to the south. The nearest inhabited land are Tristan da Cunha, 2260 km away and South Africa, 2580 km away.

★ The 'most remote archipelago' is the British Tristan da Cunha Islands in the South Atlantic Ocean, 2816 km (1750 miles) from South Africa and 3360 km (2088 miles) from South America. This is also the most remote inhabited archipelago.

★ The 'most remote, major inhabited city' is either Honolulu, Hawaii or Perth in western Australia, depending upon one's definition of "remote" and "major." There are no settlements within 3800 km of Honolulu or within 2200 km of Perth larger than the 30,000 to 50,000 population range (Hilo, Hawaii and Geraldton and Kalgoorlie, Australia).

★ The 'most remote airport in the World' is Mataveri International Airport (IPC) in Easter Island, which has a single runway for military and public use. It is located from Santiago, Chile (SCL) which has scheduled flights to it, and from Mangareva (GMR) in the Gambier Islands, which does not have scheduled flights to it.^[7] In comparison to this, the airport at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station (NZSP) is not very remote at all, being located only from Williams Field (NZWD) near Ross Island.^[8]

Centre

References

1. The High Andes, , Loren, McIntyre, National Geographic, (includes description and photos of Aucanquilcha summit road and mine)
2. Boeing News Release: Boeing 757 Now Serves World's Highest-Altitude Airport
3. Andes Website - Information about Ojos del Salado volcano, a high mountain in South America and the World's highest volcano
4. The Highest Lake in the World
5. The Mystery of World's highest river and largest Canyon
6. Island Superlatives
7. Airliners.net: World's Most Remote Airport?
8. Great Circle Mapper

This article provided by Wikipedia. To edit the contents of this article, click here for original source.

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EXTREME POINTS OF THE WORLD

The World

Latitude and longitude

Altitude

Highest attainable by transportation

Highest geographical features

Remoteness

Centre

See also

References

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