Hidden Gems of Geography: Fascinating Facts and Curiosities

Geography, the study of the earth and its features, is an endlessly fascinating field filled with interesting facts and curiosities that you might not have known. From the geographical absurdities of map projections to the surprising locations and distances, let's dive into some lesser-known geographical facts and trivia.

Geographical Oddities

Did you know that traveling from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific through the Panama Canal, your ship's heading is not south but southeast? Another surprising fact is that Reno, Nevada, is further west than San Diego. Even more surprisingly, Alaska is both the furthest west and furthest east state in the US due to its islands beyond the 180-degree longitude. Similarly, Cape Horn is more southerly than the traditional Cape Horn, while Hamburg, Germany, has the same latitude as Hudson Bay.

The Lowest Elevation on Earth

A fascinating geographical trivia is that the lowest elevation on earth below sea level that is still on land is located near Jordan by the Dead Sea, with an elevation of -420 meters above sea level, as reported by National Geographic.

Strangest Maps and Distortions

Many geographical maps today are generated using the Mercator projection, but did you know that this projection was actually invented by Erhard Etzlaub several decades earlier? The Mercator projection is commonly used because it preserves angles, which is useful for navigation. However, it distorts the size of areas as the latitude increases.

One of the most common misconceptions is that the Mercator projection is created by placing the Earth at the center of a hollow cylinder, with a light source in the center projecting the Earth's surface onto the cylinder. This explanation is incorrect. The correct way to generate this projection involves a coordinate transformation from the surface of the sphere to that of the cylinder, preserving the intervalarity in the NS scale and adjusting the LO scale. This results in regions at higher latitudes appearing much larger, leading to distortions in the size and shape of continents like Greenland and Antarctica.

True Sizes and Positions

The animation below shows a rough adjustment of the sizes and true positions of countries and continents. While the animation is not perfect, it helps to illustrate the distortions produced by this projection method. Remember that when creating maps, the location is distorted, and it's impossible to preserve both the correct information about sizes and locations when projecting a spherical or ellipsoidal surface onto a plane.

Day Length and Sun Movement

It's a common misconception that the sun rises exactly in the east and sets in the west, and that it reaches its highest point at noon. In reality, the sun's rising point and setting point vary slightly each day due to Earth's axial tilt. The sun's ascending and descending points depend on the person's latitude.

Another misconception is that the day lasts exactly 12 hours and the night also lasts 12 hours. This is only true for approximately 2 days a year. The longest day of the year occurs on the summer solstice, and the shortest night is simultaneous. Conversely, the shortest day and longest night happen during the winter solstice. The length of the day is longest closer to summer.

Conclusion

Geography is a vast and intricate subject with many hidden gems and surprises. We hope these geographical facts and curiosities have intrigued you and encouraged you to explore this exciting field further. Share this article if you found anything fascinating and follow for more such interesting content.

Upvote