Line of longitude
Not to be confused with "
ante meridiem " (AM), the time before midday.
The 180th meridian on the map of Earth The International Date Line zigzags around the 180th Meridian The180th meridian orantimeridian [ 1] meridian 180° both east and west of theprime meridian in ageographical coordinate system . Thelongitude [ 2] east orwest .OnEarth , the prime and 180th meridians form agreat ellipse that divides the planet into theWestern andEastern Hemispheres .
The antimeridian passes mostly through the open waters of thePacific Ocean but also runs across land inRussia ,Fiji , andAntarctica . An important function of this meridian is its use as the basis for theInternational Date Line , which snakes around national borders to maintain date consistency within the territories ofRussia , theUnited States ,Kiribati ,Fiji andNew Zealand .
Starting at theNorth Pole of the Earth and heading south to theSouth Pole , the 180th meridian passes through:
Coordinates Country, territory or sea Notes 90°0′N 180°0′E / 90.000°N 180.000°E /90.000; 180.000 (Arctic Ocean ) Arctic Ocean North Pole 71°32′N 180°0′E / 71.533°N 180.000°E /71.533; 180.000 (Russia ) Russia Chukotka Autonomous Okrug —Wrangel Island 70°58′N 180°0′E / 70.967°N 180.000°E /70.967; 180.000 (Chukchi Sea ) Chukchi Sea 68°59′N 180°0′E / 68.983°N 180.000°E /68.983; 180.000 (Russia ) Russia Chukotka Autonomous Okrug 65°02′N 180°0′E / 65.033°N 180.000°E /65.033; 180.000 (Bering Sea ) Bering Sea 52°0′N 180°0′E / 52.000°N 180.000°E /52.000; 180.000 (Amchitka Pass ) Amchitka Pass Passing just east ofSemisopochnoi Island ,Alaska ,United States (at51°57′N 179°47′E / 51.950°N 179.783°E /51.950; 179.783 (Semisopochnoi Island ) 9°24′S 180°0′W / 9.400°S 180.000°W /-9.400; -180.000 (Pacific Ocean ) Pacific Ocean Passing just east ofNukulaelae atoll,Tuvalu (at9°25′S 179°52′E / 9.417°S 179.867°E /-9.417; 179.867 (Nukulaelae atoll ) Cikobia-i-Lau ,Fiji (at15°43′S 179°59′W / 15.717°S 179.983°W /-15.717; -179.983 (Cikobia ) 16°9′S 180°0′W / 16.150°S 180.000°W /-16.150; -180.000 (Fiji ) Fiji Islands ofVanua Levu ,Rabi , Korolevu, andTaveuni 16°59′S 180°0′W / 16.983°S 180.000°W /-16.983; -180.000 (Pacific Ocean ) Pacific Ocean Passing just east of the island ofMoala ,Fiji (at18°33′S 179°57′E / 18.550°S 179.950°E /-18.550; 179.950 (Moala ) Totoya ,Fiji (at19°0′S 179°52′W / 19.000°S 179.867°W /-19.000; -179.867 (Totoya ) Matuku ,Fiji (at19°10′S 179°47′E / 19.167°S 179.783°E /-19.167; 179.783 (Matuku ) 60°0′S 180°0′W / 60.000°S 180.000°W /-60.000; -180.000 (Southern Ocean ) Southern Ocean 78°13′S 180°0′W / 78.217°S 180.000°W /-78.217; -180.000 (Antarctica ) Antarctica Ross Dependency ,claimed byNew Zealand 90°0′S 180°0′W / 90.000°S 180.000°W /-90.000; -180.000 (Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station ) Antarctica Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station ,South Pole
180° Meridian,Taveuni ,Fiji . The man pictured is facing southward. The meridian also passes between (but not particularly close to):
The only places where roads cross this meridian are in Fiji and Russia. Fiji has several such roads and some buildings very close to it. Russia has three roads in theChukotka Autonomous Okrug .
Software representation problems [ edit ] Many geographic software libraries or data formats project the world to a rectangle; very often this rectangle is split exactly at the 180th meridian. This often makes it non-trivial to do simple tasks (like representing an area, or a line) over the 180th meridian. Some examples:
TheGeoJSON specification strongly suggests splitting geometries so that neither of their parts cross the antimeridian.[ 3] InOpenStreetMap , areas (like the boundary of Russia) are split at the 180th meridian. QGIS may present lines andpolygons in a wrapped way if they cross the 180th meridian.InGoogle Maps , navigation is not possible within theTaveuni island, Fiji, if crossing the 180th meridian, only if staying on one side of it.
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