Maps part 1 blog
- 1. ENVIRONMENTS THROUGH MAPS (PART 1)
- 2. What is an Atlas? • An atlas is a book of maps and usually contains small-scale maps of countries in the world • The world map is a common map found in an atlas which shows the locations of oceans and
- 3. • The bodies of water of the Earth are divided into 5 oceans: • the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Arctic and Southern Oceans • The rest of the Earth’s surface is made up of large masses of land called continents (7 in total): • Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, South America, Africa and Antarctica Textbook last page
- 4. Oceans and ARCTIC continents OCEAN 66.5° 66.5° NORTH ASIA AMERICA EUROPE 23.5° ATLANTIC 23.5° OCEAN AFRICA PACIFIC OCEAN INDIAN OCEAN SOUTH AMERICA AUSTRALIA 23.5° 23.5° SOUTHERN 66.5° OCEAN 66.5° ANTARCTICA
- 5. Locating Places and Features in an Atlas: Latitudes • Latitudes are imaginary horizontal lines running in an east-west direction round the Earth • The Equator is longest line of latitude which divides the Earth into 2 equal halves
- 6. Locating Places and Features in an Atlas: Latitudes • The upper half from the Equator to the North Pole is called the Northern Hemisphere • The lower half from the Equator to the South Pole is called the Southern Hemisphere
- 7. Locating Places and Features in an Atlas: Latitudes • Latitudes are measured in degrees from the Equator • They increase in value as we move from the Equator to the North and South Poles • The important latitudes are: o (a) Equator (0 ) o (b) Tropic of Cancer (23.5 N) o (c) Tropic of Capricorn (23.5 S) o (d) Arctic Circle (66.5 N) o (e) Antarctic Circle (66.5 S) o (f) North Pole (90 N) Text pg 31 o (g) South Pole (90 S)
- 8. Locating Places and Features in an Atlas: Longitudes • Longitudes are imaginary lines that run in a north- south direction from the North Pole to the South Pole on the Earth’s surface
- 9. Locating Places and Features in an Atlas: Longitudes • Longitudes are measured in degrees east or o west from the 0 longitude which is called the Prime Meridian or the Greenwich Meridian • Longitudes west of the Greenwich Meridian o are measured from 0 at the Greenwich o Meridian to 180 W • Longitudes east of the Greenwich Meridian o are measured from 0 at the Greenwich o Meridian to 180 E • Both 180 W and 180 E lie on the same o o longitude
- 10. Locating Places and Features in an Atlas: Using Latitudes and Longitudes to locate Places • Latitudes and longitudes cross each other to form a network of lines or a grid • This grid makes it possible to state the exact location of any place on the Earth’s surface • To describe the location of a place on a map, we state the latitude first, followed by the longitude • eg Singapore (position 1.18 oN 103.50 oE) o o : 1.18 north of the Equator and 103.50 east of the Greenwich Meridian
- 11. Locating Places and Features in an Atlas: The International Date Line (IDL) • The International Date Line (IDL) is the 180 o longitude that lies directly opposite the Greenwich Meridian • our date moves back by one day when we travel east across the IDL • however our date moves forward by one day when we travel west across the IDL • IDL is not a straight line and bends at certain places to allow these land areas to have the same calendar date
- 12. Time Zone Variations • Places on different parts of the Earth experience day and night at different times due to the rotation of the Earth • The world is divided into 24 standard time zones: • each time zone represents 15 longitude, or o the distance the Earth rotates in 1 hour • the Greenwich Mean o Time (GMT) at 0 longitude, is the base time zone
- 13. Time Zone Variations • The nearest time zone west of Greenwich experiences 1 hour earlier than Greenwich while the nearest time zone east of Greenwich experiences 1 hour later