3.1.7

Longitude

Test yourself

Longitude

Longitude and latitude are imaginary lines that we use to locate places on planet Earth. They help you to explain exactly where a place is. Lines of longitude run vertically ‘down’ the earth.

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What is longitude?

  • Lines of longitude run from north to south on a map.
  • The longitude of a place determines the time in that place.
  • You can picture the lines of longitude as dividing the world up into segments - like the inside of an orange.
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Lines of longitude

  • The lines are NOT parallel.
  • They all meet at the north pole in the northern hemisphere and at the south pole in the southern hemisphere.
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Prime Meridian

  • The line at 0 degrees longitude is called the Prime Meridian.
    • It runs through Greenwich in London.
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Greenwich Mean Time

  • This is where Greenwich Mean Time is calculated from.
    • The further a place is from the Prime Meridian in Greenwich, the bigger the time difference.

Jump to other topics

1Geography Skills

2Geology of the UK

3Geography of the World

4Development

5Weather & Climate

6The World of Work

7Natural Resources

8Rivers

9Coasts

10Glaciers

11Tectonics

12Climate Change

13Global Population & Inequality

14Urbanisation

15Ecosystems

16Life in an Emerging Country

17Analysis of Africa

18Analysis of India

19Analysis of the Middle East

20Analysis of Bangladesh

21Analysis of Russia

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