Extremes on Earth

Further information: World record, List of extreme points lists, and Extreme points of Earth

This article describes extreme locations on Earth. Entries listed in bold are Earth-wide extremes.

Contents

Extreme elevations and temperatures per continent

Further information: List of highest mountains, Seven Summits, and List of weather records
Continent Elevation (height above/below sea level) Temperature (recorded)[1]A
Highest Lowest Highest Lowest
Africa 5,893 m (19,334 ft)
Kilimanjaro, Tanzania		 −155 m (−509 ft)
Lake Assal, Djibouti		 57.8 °C (136.0 °F)
'Aziziya, Libya
13 September 1922.
(Disputed)		 −23.9 °C (−11.0 °F)
Ifrane, Morocco
11 February 1935
Antarctica 4,892 m (16,050 ft)
Vinson Massif		 −50 m (−164 ft)[2]
Deep Lake, Vestfold Hills
(compare the deepest ice section below)		 15 °C (59 °F)
Vanda Station
5 January 1974		 −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F)
Vostok Station
21 July 1983
Asia 8,850 m (29,035 ft)
Mount Everest, Nepal/ China		 −424 m (−1,391 ft)
Dead Sea shore, Israel - Jordan		 55 °C (131 °F)
Mitraba, Kuwait
15 June 2010C		 −67.8 °C (−90.0 °F) Measured
Verkhoyansk, Siberia, Russia (then in the Russian Empire)
5 February 1892
−71.2 °C (−96.2 °F) Extrapolated
Oymyakon, Siberia, Russia (then in the Soviet Union)
26 January 1926[3]
Europe 5,642 m (18,510 ft)
Mount Elbrus, Russia
(compare the Mont Blanc)		 −28 m (−92 ft)
Caspian Sea shore, Russia
(compare the Tagebau Hambach)		 48.0 °C (118.4 °F)
Athens, Greece
(and Elefsina, Greece)
10 July 1977 D		 −58.1 °C (−72.6 °F)
Ust-Shchuger, Russia
31 December 1978
North America 6,198 m (20,335 ft)
Denali (Mount McKinley), Alaska, U.S.A.		 −86 m (−282 ft)
Death Valley, California, U.S.A.
(compare the deepest ice section below)		 56.7 °C (134.1 °F)
Death Valley, California, U.S.A.
10 July 1913		 −63 °C (−81.4 °F)
Snag, Yukon, Canada
3 February 1947
−66.1 °C (−87.0 °F)
North Ice, Greenland
9 January 1954
Oceania
(Australia)		 4,884 m (16,024 ft)
Puncak Jaya (Carstensz Pyramid), Indonesia
(compare the Mount Wilhelm and Mount Kosciuszko)		 −15 m (−49 ft)
Lake Eyre, South Australia, Australia		 50.7 °C (123.3 °F)
Oodnadatta, South Australia, Australia
2 January 1960E		 −25.6 °C (−14.1 °F)
Ranfurly, New Zealand
18 July 1903
South America 6,962 m (22,841 ft)
Aconcagua, Mendoza, Argentina		 −105 m (−344 ft)
Laguna del Carbón, Argentina		 48.9 °C (120.0 °F)
Rivadavia, Salta Province, Argentina
11 December 1905		 −32.8 °C (−27.0 °F)
Sarmiento, Argentina
1 June 1907
A.^ All temperatures from the World Meteorological Organization unless noted.
B.^ Height above sea level is the usual choice of definition for elevation. In terms of the point farthest away from the centre of the Earth, Chimborazo in Ecuador (6,267 m (20,561 ft)) can be considered the planet's most extreme high point. This is due to the Earth's oblate spheroid shape, with points near the Equator being farther out from the centre than those at the poles.
C.^ This is the highest recorded air temperature. Higher surface temperatures have been recorded, for example, 70.7 °C (159.3 °F) in 2004 and 2005 in the Lut desert, Iran.[4][5][6][7]
D.^ Temperatures greater than 50 °C (122 °F) in Spain and Portugal were recorded in 1881, but the standard with which they were measured and the accuracy of the thermometers used are unknown; therefore, they are not considered official. Unconfirmed reports also indicate that a set of Spanish stations may have hit 48.0 °C (118.4 °F) during the 2003 heat wave.[8]
E.^ A temperature of 53.1 °C (127.6 °F) was recorded in Cloncurry, Queensland on 16 January 1889 under non-standard exposure conditions and is therefore not considered official.[9]

Greatest vertical drop

Greatest purely vertical drop 1,250 m (4,101 ft)
Mount Thor, Auyuittuq National Park, Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada (summit elevation 1,675 m (5,495 ft))
Greatest nearly vertical drop 1,340 m (4,396 ft)
Trango Towers, Pakistan (summit elevation 6,286 m (20,623 ft))

Subterranean

Further information: Mining#Records
Deepest mine +4,000 m (13,123 ft)
Mponeng Gold mine, South Africa
Deepest mine under sea level 2,733 m (8,967 ft) under sea level
Kidd Mine, Ontario, Canada
Deepest open-pit mine 1,200 m (3,937 ft)
Bingham Canyon Mine, Utah, USA
Deepest open-pit mine under sea level 293 m (961 ft) under sea level
Tagebau Hambach, Germany
Deepest cave 2,193 m (7,195 ft)
Voronya Cave, Arabika Massif, Georgia
Deepest pitch (single vertical drop) 603 m (1,978 ft)
Vrtoglavica Cave, Slovenia

Greatest oceanic depths

Atlantic Ocean 8,648 m (28,373 ft)
Milwaukee Deep, Puerto Rico Trench
Arctic Ocean 5,450 m (17,881 ft)
Litke Deep, Eurasian Basin
Indian Ocean 7,258 m (23,812 ft)
Java Trench[10]
Pacific Ocean 10,971 m (35,994 ft)
Challenger Deep, Mariana Trench[11]
Southern Ocean 7,235 m (23,737 ft)
South Sandwich Trench (southernmost portion, at 60°S)

Deepest ice

Ice sheets on land, but having the base below sea level. Places under ice are not considered to be on land.

Bentley Subglacial Trench −2,555 m (−8,383 ft) Antarctica
Trough beneath Jakobshavn Isbræ −1,512 m (−4,961 ft)[12] Greenland

Coldest and hottest inhabited places on Earth

Hottest inhabited place Dallol, Ethiopia, whose annual mean temperature was recorded from 1960 to 1966 as 34.4 °C (93.9 °F).[13] The average daily maximum temperature during the same period was 41.1 °C (106.0 °F).[14]
Coldest inhabited place Oymyakon (Russian: Оймякон), a village (selo) in Oymyakonsky Ulus of the Sakha Republic, Russia, located along the Indigirka River.[15] It has −16 °C (3 °F) as yearly average and −46 °C (−51 °F) as daily average in January, the coldest month.
The South Pole and some other places in Antarctica are colder and are populated year-round, but almost everyone stays less than a year and could be considered visitors, not inhabitants.

Northern and southernmost points of land on Earth

See also: Northernmost settlements and Southernmost settlements
Northernmost point on land Kaffeklubben Island, east of Greenland ()
Various shifting gravel bars lie further north, the most famous being Oodaaq
Southernmost point on land The geographic South Pole

See also

References

  1. ^ Global Weather & Climate Extremes World Meteorological Organization
  2. ^ Indicator 62 - Water levels of Deep Lake, Vestfold Hills, Australian Antarctic Data Centre. Retrieved 15 January 2010.
  3. ^ Life Is a Chilling Challenge in Subzero Siberia from the National Geographic
  4. ^ The Hottest Spot on Earth
  5. ^ Satellites seek global hot spots | csmonitor.com
  6. ^ The Ceaseless Buzzing of Kinetic Energy, Daniel Engber, May 30, 2007, Discover, on line; accessed May 9, 2008.
  7. ^ New Images - The Hottest Spot on Earth, news, Earth Observatory, NASA. Accessed on line May 9, 2008.
  8. ^ Europe: Highest Temperature WM0
  9. ^ Transcript of report on the highest temperature
  10. ^ Indian Ocean, CIA World Factbook. Accessed on line December 26, 2008.
  11. ^ "Daily Reports for R/V KILO MOANA June and July 2009". University of Hawaii Marine Center. 2009-06-04. http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/UMC/Reports/Archives/KMreportJuneJuly2009.html. Retrieved 2009-06-04. 
  12. ^ Plummer, Joel. Jakobshavn Bed Elevation, Center for the Remote Sensing of the Ice Sheets, Dept of Geography, University of Kansas.
  13. ^ p. 9, Weather Experiments, Muriel Mandell and Dave Garbot, Sterling Publishing Company, Inc., 2006, ISBN 1402721579.
  14. ^ Average of table on p. 26, Extreme Weather: A Guide & Record Book, Christopher C. Burt and Mark Stroud, New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2007, ISBN 039333015X.
  15. ^ p. 57, Extreme Weather: A Guide & Record Book, Christopher C. Burt and Mark Stroud, New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2007, ISBN 039333015X.

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