Farthest North

Guest

Hi Amy,

I always enjoy going farther north than I have ever been before. Last summer on the Lena River I took a boat from Yakutsk (62 deg. N) to just north of Kyusyur (71 deg. N). That is the farthest north I've been so far. What is the farthest north that you have been?

To help compute distances, I try to remember that 1 degree of latitude equals 60 nautical miles, or about 69 statue miles (ie, "regular" miles). In metric units, 1 degree of latitude equals 111 km. So going from 62 deg N to 71 deg N means I went north 9 deg x 60 nautical miles per deg = 540 nautical miles (or 621 statute miles, or 1000 km).

Here are a couple of questions for your students.

1) How close have I been to the North Pole?
2) How far is Salisbury, Vermont from the North Pole?

Joined: 23 Mar 2004 Posts: 84

Let's see if my students and I figured these questions out correctly. The first one was easy--the farthest north I have ever been was when I was in Finland studying in college--I took a train to Roveniemi, which is just at the Arctic Circle, probably about the same latitude as Zhigansk.

We calculated that last year, if you were at 71 degrees North Latitude that you were 1140 nautical miles away from the North Pole. Are we right?

We also calculated that Salisbury, Vermont, which is at about the 44th parallel, is about 2760 nautical miles away from the North Pole. How does that sound?

Thanks for the great questions--we had fun working them out and even got the geography teacher involved!!

Amy

Guest

Hi Amy and Amy's students,

Great work - your answers are correct! Now you know how far you are from the North Pole!

If you want to try a much more difficult question, here's one. When Amy is on the Lena River near Zhigansk, Russia, and you are in school at Salisbury, Vermont, approximately how far will you be from each other?

It is tricky, but this question can be answered if you have a globe, a piece of string (long enough to go all the way around the globe), a yard stick or measuring tape, and the knowledge that the circumference of the earth is about 24,900 miles. (Zhigansk is probably not on your globe, but the Lena River should be. And Zhigansk is on the Lena River, just north of the Arctic Circle.)

This is a tough question - and it requires some math to answer (both multiplication and division). Can you figure out the answer? I'll give you some more hints if you'd like.

Good luck!

Max

Guest

Dear Max,
We think we found the answer to your question about how far Salisbury is from the Lena River. First of all, Zhigansk is on our globe. Second, we also had a scale on our globe so we may have cheated. But, we think we know the answer (even though we may have cheated, we still used multiplication and division).

We think, if you go over the North Pole, we will be about 4000 nautical miles away from Amy when she is on the Lena River.

If you measure the flight path you are taking, we would be 7500 nautical miles away from Amy when she is on the Lena River.

Please write us back to let us know if we are correct.

Thanks,
The Fourth Grade

P.S. Thanks for the question.

Guest

Hey 4th Grade Class,

Great job - I think your answer was closer to the real answer than mine!

Here's what I did. I took a string and wrapped it around the globe at the equator. The distance was 98 cm. I then took the string and stretched it between Salisbury and Zhigansk. That distance was about 20 cm. And as I said in the previous email, the earth's circumference is about 24,900 miles (statue miles, not nautical miles).

So, according to my calculation, the distance from Salisbury to Zhigansk

= (20 cm X 24900 statute miles) / 98 cm = 5082 statute miles (or 4419 nautical miles)

So my answer was 4419 nautical miles and your answer was 4000 nautical miles.

To determine who was closer, I found the exact location of Salisbury (43°15'N, 73°06'W) and Zhigansk (66°45'N, 123°15'E) and then went to a web site that would calculate the distance for me. The site I went to was http://www.wcrl.ars.usda.gov/cec/java/lat-long.htm. And the answer they gave was 4119 nautical miles.

So you were off by 119 nautical miles, and I (the scientist!) was off by 300 miles! So Amy's fourth grade class wins!

Humbly Yours,

Max

Guest

Dear Max,
How many nautical miles is your home in Massachussets to Zhigansk?

From Sean

Guest

Hi Max,
My name is Elizabeth Dwire I am in fourth grade I am in Amy's class. My question is how far North do animals live?

From Elizabeth

Joined: 27 Mar 2004 Posts: 43

Hi Sean,

OK, now you're testing me! I try to get the answer right...

So this time I'll cheat (well, not really cheat, but I'll use the web site I gave you yesterday to do the calculation for me).

But first I have to know the exact location of Woods Hole, MA. And from another web site (http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnis/web_query.gnis_web_query_form)
I learned that the exact location of Woods Hole is

41°31' N, 70°40' W

And we already know that the location of Zhigansk is

66°45'N, 123°15'E

So then I go to http://www.wcrl.ars.usda.gov/cec/java/lat-long.htm and enter the locations, and the answer I get is that Woods Hole is 4272 Nautical Miles from Zhigansk.

And according to the same web site, Salisbury is 4119 Nautical Miles from Zhigansk. So you are 153 Nautical Miles closer to Zhigansk than I am!

How did I do?

Max

Joined: 27 Mar 2004 Posts: 43

Hi Elizabeth,

Animals can be found as far north as the North Pole. In fact, to see some pictures of them, go to

http://psc.apl.washington.edu/northpole/PhotoGallery.html

Did you look at the photos? I'm kind of joking because I know that is not what you meant, but I thought you might enjoy looking at some pictures of these strange animals (called scientists) at the North Pole!

I think polar bears are also sometimes as far north as the North Pole, and maybe some seals. And I guess there are also probably lots of different kinds of marine animals in the Arctic Ocean near the Pole (fish, zooplankton, ???). I don't know if birds ever reach the North Pole. So you asked a very good question - but my answer maybe is not so good. We both have lots to learn!

Max