Curves of constant latitude on the Earth (running east-west) are referred to as lines of latitude. Each line of latitude is actually a circle on the Earth parallel to the equator, and for this reason lines of latitude are also known as ''circles of latitude'' or ''parallels''. In spherical geometry, lines of latitude are examples of circles of a sphere, with the equator being a great circle.
Latitude (usually denoted by the Greek letter phi (φ)) is often measured in degrees, with minutes and seconds for finer measurements. For example, the Eiffel Tower has a latitude of 48° 51′ 29″ N-- that is, 48 degrees plus 51 minutes plus 29 seconds. Alternatively, latitude may be measured entirely in degrees, e.g. 48.85806° N.
The latitudes of the two tropics are determined by the axial tilt of the Earth with respect to the sun, which is approximately 23° 26′ 21″. The latitudes of the Arctic and Antarctic circles are the complements to this angle.
Some observers have noted a correlation between the latitude of a country and its economic activity; see North-South divide.
:: ::
In the case of a spheroid, a meridian and its anti-meridian form an ellipse, from which an expression for the length of an arcdegree of latitude difference is: :: This radius of arc (or "arcradius") is in the plane of a meridian, and is known as the ''meridional radius of curvature'', .
Similarly, an expression for the length of an arcdegree of longitude difference is: :: The arcradius contained here is in the plane of the prime vertical, the east-west plane perpendicular (or "normal") to both the plane of the meridian and the plane tangent to the surface of the ellipsoid, and is known as the ''normal radius of curvature'', .
Along the equator (east-west), equals the equatorial radius. The radius of curvature at a right angle to the equator (north-south), , is 43 km shorter, hence the length of an arcdegree of latitude difference at the equator is about 1 km less than the length of an arcdegree of longitude difference at the equator. The radii of curvature are equal at the poles where they are about 64 km greater than the north-south equatorial radius of curvature ''because'' the polar "radius" is 21 km less than the equatorial radius. The shorter polar radii indicate that the northern and southern hemispheres are flatter, making their radii of curvature longer. This flattening also 'pinches' the north-south equatorial radius of curvature, making it 43 km less than the equatorial radius. Both radii of curvature are perpendicular to the plane tangent to the surface of the ellipsoid at all latitudes, directed toward a point on the polar axis in the opposite hemisphere (except at the equator where both point toward Earth's center). The east-west radius of curvature reaches the axis, whereas the north-south radius of curvature is shorter at all latitudes except the poles.
The WGS84 ellipsoid, used by all GPS devices, uses an equatorial radius of and an inverse flattening, (1/f), of , hence its polar semi-axis is and its first eccentricity squared is . The more recent but little used IERS 2003 ellipsoid provides equatorial and polar semi-axes of and , respectively, and an inverse flattening of . Lengths of degrees on the WGS84 and IERS 2003 ellipsoids are the same when rounded to six significant digits. An appropriate calculator for any latitude is provided by the U.S. government's National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA).
On the WGS84 spheroid, the length in meters of a degree of latitude at latitude φ (that is, the distance along a north-south line from latitude (φ - 0.5) degrees to (φ + 0.5) degrees) is about
111132.954 - 559.822(cos 2φ) + 1.175(cos 4φ)
(Those coefficients can be improved, but as they stand the distance they give is correct within a centimeter.)
| | N-S radiusof curvature | Surface distance per 1° change in latitude | E-W radius of curvature | Surface distance per 1° change in longitude | |
0° | 6335.44 km| | 110.574 km | 6378.14 km | 111.320 km | |
15° | 6339.70 km| | 110.649 km | 6379.57 km | 107.551 km | |
30° | 6351.38 km| | 110.852 km | 6383.48 km | 96.486 km | |
45° | 6367.38 km| | 111.132 km | 6388.84 km | 78.847 km | |
60° | 6383.45 km| | 111.412 km | 6394.21 km | 55.800 km | |
75° | 6395.26 km| | 111.618 km | 6398.15 km | 28.902 km | |
90° | 6399.59 km| | 111.694 km | 6399.59 km | 0.000 km |
All the auxiliary latitudes, except the isometric latitude, are numerically close to the geodetic latitude, the difference being zero at the poles and on the equator and attaining a maximum, between 5 and 10 minutes of arc, at a geodetic latitude a few arc minutes from 45 degrees. The geodetic latitude is greater than (or equal to) all auxiliary latitudes.
In the theory of map projections the auxiliary latitudes are typically employed as intermediate constructs in a transformation from geodetic coordinates to Eastings and Northings in the projection plane. The end user has no need of a numerical value such as the authalic latitude of the Eiffel tower.
The auxiliary latitudes defined below have been expressed in terms of the semi-major axis, ''a'', and the eccentricity, ''e'', in forms which agree, apart from notational variants, with those given in the standard reference for map projections, namely ''Map projections — a working manual'' by Snyder. Derivations which assume some knowledge of the geometrical properties of the ellipsoid may be found in Adams. Pedagogical discussions of the geometry of the ellipsoid may be found in Rapp (Chapter 3) and Osborne (Chapters 5,6)
:{| class="wikitable" !colspan="6"|Approximate difference from geographic latitude ("Lat") |- !Lat !Reduced !Authalic !Rectifying !Conformal !Geocentric |- |0° || 0.00′|| 0.00′|| 0.00′|| 0.00′|| 0.00′ |- |5° || 1.01′|| 1.35′|| 1.52′|| 2.02′|| 2.02′ |- |10°|| 1.99′|| 2.66′|| 2.99′|| 3.98′|| 3.98′ |- |15°|| 2.91′|| 3.89′|| 4.37′|| 5.82′|| 5.82′ |- |20°|| 3.75′|| 5.00′|| 5.62′|| 7.48′|| 7.48′ |- |25°|| 4.47′|| 5.96′|| 6.70′|| 8.92′|| 8.92′ |- |30°|| 5.05′|| 6.73′|| 7.57′||10.09′||10.09′ |- |35°|| 5.48′|| 7.31′|| 8.22′||10.95′||10.96′ |- |40°|| 5.75′|| 7.66′|| 8.62′||11.48′||11.49′ |- |45°|| 5.84′|| 7.78′|| 8.76′||11.67′||11.67′ |- |50°|| 5.75′|| 7.67′|| 8.63′||11.50′||11.50′ |- |55°|| 5.49′|| 7.32′|| 8.23′||10.97′||10.98′ |- |60°|| 5.06′|| 6.75′|| 7.59′||10.12′||10.13′ |- |65°|| 4.48′|| 5.97′|| 6.72′|| 8.95′|| 8.96′ |- |70°|| 3.76′|| 5.01′|| 5.64′|| 7.52′|| 7.52′ |- |75°|| 2.92′|| 3.90′|| 4.39′|| 5.85′|| 5.85′ |- |80°|| 2.00′|| 2.67′|| 3.00′|| 4.00′|| 4.01′ |- |85°|| 1.02′|| 1.35′|| 1.52′|| 2.03′|| 2.03′ |- |90°|| 0.00′|| 0.00′|| 0.00′|| 0.00′|| 0.00′ |}
When converting from geodetic ("common") latitude to other types of latitude, corrections must be made for altitude for systems which do not measure the angle from the normal of the spheroid. For example, in the figure at right, point ''H'' (located on the surface of the spheroid) and point ''H
Astronomical latitude is not to be confused with declination, the coordinate astronomers use to describe the locations of stars north/south of the celestial equator (see equatorial coordinates), nor with ecliptic latitude, the coordinate that astronomers use to describe the locations of stars and solar system bodies north/south of the ecliptic (see ecliptic coordinates).
Lines of latitude Category:Geodesy Category:Navigation
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