Extreme points of Earth

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

1 The World
2 The Americas
3 Antarctica
4 The Arctic
5 Australasia
6 Afro-Eurasia
7 See also
8 References

[edit] The World

[edit] Latitude and longitude

The northernmost point of Earth is the geographic North Pole, in the Arctic Ocean.
The northernmost point on land is Kaffeklubben Island, north of Greenland (83°40′N, 29°50′W), which lies slightly north of Cape Morris Jesup, Greenland (83°38′N, 32°40′W). Various shifting gravel bars lie further north, the most famous being Oodaaq. 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.

[edit] 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 (29,029 ft) above sea level.
The lowest point is Challenger Deep, at the bottom of the Mariana Trench: 10,911 m (35,797 ft) below sea level [2].
The lowest point on dry land is the shore of the Dead Sea, 418 m (1,371 ft) 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 (8,383 ft) 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 6,384.4 km (3,967 mi). (Everest's summit is at 6,382.3 km (3,966 mi).) However, Huascarán is a very close contender, within the 2-metre (7 ft) measured error, if each mountain's reported height is correct.
The point closest to the Earth's centre (~6,353 km (3,948 mi)) is probably somewhere at the bottom of the Arctic Ocean (depth ~4 km (2 mi)) near the Geographic North Pole (the bottom of the Mariana Trench is 6,366.4 km (3,956 mi) from the centre of the Earth).

[edit] Highest attainable by transportation

Khardung La

Road (dead end): Aucanquilcha, Chile, 6,176 m (20,262 ft), 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, 5,565 m (18,258 ft), or Marsimik La, India, 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, 5,072 m (16,640 ft)
Commercial airport: Qamdo Bangda Airport, Tibet, 4,334 m (14,219 ft)^[2]
Helipad: Sonam, Siachen Glacier, India at a height of 6,400 m (20,997 ft) above the sea level.^[3]
Boat: Lake Titicaca (the highest navigable lake), on the border of Peru and Bolivia in the Andes, 3,812 m (12,507 ft)

[edit] Highest geographical features

Lake: There is an unnamed crater lake on Ojos del Salado (which itself is the world's highest volcano) at 6,390 m (20,965 ft),^[4] on the Argentina-Chile border. Another candidate is Lhagba Pool on the northeast slopes of Mount Everest, Tibet, at an altitude of 6,368 m (20,892 ft).^[5]
Glacier: The Khumbu Glacier on the southwest slopes of Mount Everest in Nepal is the world's highest glacier, beginning at an altitude of 7,600 m (24,934 ft) to 8,000 m (26,247 ft).^{[citation needed]}
River: One candidate from among many possibilities is the Ating Ho (Ho meaning river), which flows into the Aong Tso (Hagung Tso), a large lake in Tibet, and is about 6,100 m (20,013 ft) at its source at 32°49′30″N, 81°03′45″E. A very large high river is the Yarlung Tsangpo or upper Brahmaputra River in Tibet, whose main stem, the Maquan He has its source at about 6,020 m (19,751 ft) above sea level at 30°48′59″N, 82°42′45″E.^[6]. Above these altitudes there are no rivers since the temperature is almost always below freezing.
Island: There are a number of islands in the Orba Co lake, which is located at an altitude of 5,209 m (17,090 ft) in Tibet.^[7]

[edit] Remoteness

The Eurasian pole of inaccessibility, the point on land farthest from any ocean, is located approximately 320 km (199 mi) from the city of Ürümqi, in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region of China, at 46°16.8′N, 86°40.2′E (in the Dzoosotoyn Elisen Desert). This position is at a distance of approximately 2,648 km (1,645 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 48°52.6′S, 123°23.6′W, which is approximately 2,688 km (1,670 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 54°26′S, 3°24′E. The nearest land is the uninhabited Queen Maud Land, Antarctica, over 1,600 km (994 mi) away to the south. The nearest inhabited land is Tristan da Cunha, 2,260 km (1,404 mi) away and South Africa, 2,580 km (1,603 mi) away.
The most remote archipelago is Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic Ocean, 2,816 km (1,750 mi) from South Africa and 3,360 km (2,090 mi) from South America. The islands are part of the British crown colony of Saint Helena. With a population of c. 270, the main island of Tristan da Cunha is also the remotest inhabited island in the world.
The most remote, major inhabited city is either Honolulu, Hawaii or Perth in western Australia, depending on one's definition of "remote" and "major." There are no settlements within 3,800 km (2,361 mi) of Honolulu or within 2,200 km (1,367 mi) of Perth larger than the 30,000 to 50,000 population range (Hilo, Hawaii and Geraldton and Kalgoorlie, Australia, respectively).
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 3,759 km (2,336 mi) from Santiago, Chile (SCL) which has scheduled flights to it, and 2,603 km (1,617 mi) from Mangareva (GMR) in the Gambier Islands, French Polynesia, which does not have scheduled flights to it.^[8] In comparison to this, the airport at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station (NZSP) is not very remote at all, being located only 1,355 kilometres (842 mi) from Williams Field (NZWD) near Ross Island.^[9]
The most remote capital city of the world is a tie between Canberra, Australia and Wellington, New Zealand. Neither of them has another capital of a sovereign country within a distance of 2,330 km (1,448 mi) – the distance between the two cities.

[edit] Centre

Since the Earth is a near-sphere, its centre (the core) is thousands of kilometres beneath its crust. However, one could perhaps consider the intersection of the Equator and Prime Meridian, located at the coordinates of zero degrees by zero, to be the "centre" of the standard geographic model (as viewed on a map), though the selection of longitude meridians are largely culturally and historically dependent, rather than based on geological or geographic reasons. This point, (0°, 0°) is located in the Atlantic Ocean approximately 614 km south of Accra, Ghana, in the Gulf of Guinea. The center of population, the place to which there is the shortest average route for everyone in the world, could be considered a centre of the world, and is located in the north of the Indian subcontinent

[edit] Along constant Latitude (East-West Distances)

Longest continuous distance on land:
- 10,726 km (6665 mi) @ 48°24'53N: France (4°47'44W), central Europe, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, China, Russia (140°6'3E).
Longest continuous distance at sea (between continents):
- 15,409 km (9575 mi) @ 18°39'12N: China (Hainan) (110°15'9E), Pacific Ocean, Mexico (103°42'6W).
Longest continuous latitude on land (incl. permanent ice shelf):
- 7,958 km (4946 mi) @ 78°35S: Minimum extent of Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica (subject to change).
Longest continuous latitude at sea:
- 22,471 km (13964 mi) @ 55°59S: South of Cape Horn, South America.
- 4,435 km (2758 mi) @ 83°40N: North of Kaffeklubben Island, Greenland (longest on the northern hemisphere).

[edit] Along constant Longitude (North-South Distances)

Longest continuous distance on land:
- 7590 km (4717 mi) @ 99°1'30E: Russia (76°13'6N), Mongolia, China, Burma, Thailand (7°53'24N).
- 7417 km (4610 mi) @ 20°12E: Libya (32°19N), Chad, Central Africa, Congo DR, Angola, Namibia, Botswana, South Africa (34°41'30S). (Longest in Africa).
- 7098 km (4412 mi) @ 70°2W: Venezuela (11°30'30N), Colombia, Brazil, Peru, Chile, Argentine (52°33'30S). (Longest in western hemisphere and in South America).
- 5813 km (3613 mi) @ 97°52'30W: Canada (68°21N), USA, Mexico (16°1N). (Longest in North America).
Longest continuous distance at sea:
- 15986 km (9935 mi) @ 34°45'45W: Eastern Greenland (66°23'45N), Atlantic Ocean, Antarctica (Filchner Ice Shelf) (77°37S).
- 15883 km (9871 mi) @ 172°8'30W: Russia (Siberia) (64°45N), Pacific Ocean, Antarctica (Ross Ice Shelf) (78°20S). (Longest in the Pacific Ocean).