Why The Prime Meridian of The World Shifted Hundreds of Feet

Why the 'Prime Meridian of the World' Shifted Hundreds of Feet
7/6/16, 3:33 PM
Report this Advertisement
" # $ +
& SEARCH
TECH HEALTH PLANET EARTH SPACE STRANGE NEWS ANIMALS HISTORY HUMAN NATURE SHOP
Live Science Tech
Why the 'Prime Meridian of the

World' Shifted Hundreds of Feet
By Charles Q. Choi, Live Science Contributor | August 18, 2015 07:47am ET
TECH HEALTH PLANET EARTH SPACE STRANGE NEWS ANIMALS HISTORY HUMAN NATURE SHOP
" # $ +
&
" 400
# 39
+8
'
The Prime Meridian of the World (dotted line) and the modern reference meridian indicating zero longitude using satellite
measurements (solid line).
(
5
Credit: Imagery 2014 Google Maps, Infoterra Ltd. & Bluesky
) 14
Once called the Prime Meridian of the World, the invisible line running north to south
MORE
*
that
divides
the world into Eastern and Western hemispheres passed through the Airy
http://www.livescience.com/51894-prime-meridian-shifts.html?google_editors_picks=true
Page 1 of 7
7/6/16, 3:33 PM
Transit Circle a 19th-century telescopic instrument at the Royal Observatory at

Greenwich, England.
However, this line of longitude now runs 334 feet (102 meters) east of where it did. What
made it shift? A change in nding out which way is down from using a basin of liquid
mercury to relying on satellites around Earth, researchers have found.
Nowadays, any point on Earth's surface can be described by its latitude and longitude
lines of latitude run from east to west, while lines of longitude run from north to south.
Although the concept of running a grid of lines over a map to specify places on the Earth
was rst suggested by ancient Greek astronomer and mathematician Hipparchus in
about 150 B.C., the idea did not take o until the Age of Discovery, when explorers began
wandering across the globe, beginning in the early part of the 15th century.
Developing ways to pinpoint one's latitude and longitude was one of the greatest
scientic endeavors in history, a quest that ultimately took centuries and was a matter of
life and death. Navigation at sea was extraordinarily challenging, resulting in countless
tragedies because ships could not get a x on where they were. One example of such a
disaster happened in 1707, when four British warships and more than 1,400 lives were
lost because storms forced the eet's navigators o course, making them believe they
Page 2 of 7
7/6/16, 3:33 PM
were safely to the west of the island of Ushant instead of closing in on dangerous rocks
near the Isles of Scilly. [9 Craziest Ocean Voyages]
Finding lat. and long.
In order to dene a location in terms of latitude and longitude, one rst has to have
starting points both for the lines running north to south, known as meridians, and those
running east to west, known as parallels. In the case of latitude, the easiest place to start
from and set as zero is the equator. However, the location of the prime meridian, which
marks zero degrees longitude, is completely arbitrary it could be located anywhere.
Britain once ruled the waves, and so the Royal Observatory at Greenwich near London
ultimately became the reference point for longitude.
Latitude is relatively easy to calculate, using an instrument such as an astrolabe to
measure the altitude of the sun or a charted star over the horizon. In contrast, the key to
calculating longitude is rooted in time. A line of longitude can be thought of not just as a
marker of space but also of time for instance, the eastern United States is an hour or
more ahead of the western United States. If navigators can know what time it is at a xed
reference point, such as the prime meridian, the dierence between the time at that
reference point and the time wherever the navigators are located can help pinpoint the
distance of their ships from that xed location, and thus determine their longitude. [5 of
the Most Precise Clocks Ever Made]
After inventors created timepieces accurate enough to help navigators calculate their
longitude, an international conference in 1884 ocially established the prime meridian
through Greenwich. The prime meridian was used to establish Greenwich Mean Time,
upon which all other time zones now depend.
Before clocks accurate enough to pinpoint longitude were developed, navigators gazed
up at the night sky to determine time. The apparent position of the moon and stars
depends on where Earth is facing, and since Earth spins on its axis at a regular pace like a
clock, knowing where Earth is facing can help navigators deduce their time and longitude.
These astronomical calculations depended on navigators knowing how their instruments
might be tilted with relation to the positions of the moon and stars, explained study coauthor Ken Seidelmann, an astronomer at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. The
act of "determining the vertical," or knowing which way was straight down, in turn
depended on watching a basin of liquid mercury gravity pulled the uid downward so
it was level with the horizon.
The problem with this strategy is that Earth's gravity eld varies in strength over its
Page 3 of 7
7/6/16, 3:33 PM
surface. Anything that has mass has a gravity eld that pulls objects toward it, and the
strength of this eld depends on that body's mass. Since Earth's mass is not spread out
evenly, this means its gravity eld is stronger in some places and weaker in others.
At Greenwich, Earth's gravity eld does not pull straight downward. This means the
vertical there "did not go through the center of the Earth," Seidelmann told Live Science.
Center of Earth
In 1984, scientists began using satellites to precisely measure latitude and longitude
coordinates on Earth's surface. The verticals this strategy measures do go through the
center of the Earth. The oset between these two kinds of verticals explains why the
prime meridian now runs 334 feet (102 m) east of where it did, Seidelmann said.
With the aid of colleagues around the world, the researchers also found that the problem
was not limited to Greenwich. "We contacted friends who knew what their coordinates
had been to go out with GPS receivers to take a reading to see whether there had been a
change," Seidelmann said. "We found that each place had a dierent past value for their
coordinates, probably based on how gravity caused a local deection of the vertical."
"It was fun coming up with conclusive evidence as to what really happened with the
prime meridian, and why," Seidelmann said.
He and his colleagues detailed their ndings in the August issue of the Journal of
Geodesy.
Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science.
Editor's Recommendations
Earth's 8 Biggest Mysteries
Photos: The World's Weirdest Geological
50 Interesting Facts About Earth
Formations
American Eagle Outfitters
Page 4 of 7
7/6/16, 3:33 PM
American Eagle Outfitters

Shop American Eagle Outfitters. Huge Selection & In-Store
Returns!
Author Bio
Charles Q. Choi, Live Science Contributor
Charles Q. Choi is a contributing writer for Live Science and Space.com. He covers all
things human origins and astronomy as well as physics, animals and general science
topics. Charles has a Master of Arts degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia,
School of Journalism and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of South Florida.
Charles has visited every continent on Earth, drinking rancid yak butter tea in Lhasa,
snorkeling with sea lions in the Galapagos and even climbing an iceberg in Antarctica.
Charles Q. Choi, Live Science Contributor on
COMPANY
Company Info
About Us
Contact Us
Advertise with Us
Using Our Content
Licensing & Reprints
Page 5 of 7
7/6/16, 3:33 PM
Terms of Use and Sale

Copyright Policy
Privacy Policy
NETWORK
Top Ten Reviews
Tom's Guide
Laptop Mag
Tom's Hardware
Business News Daily
Tom's IT Pro
Space.com
Live Science
Active Junky
ShopSavvy
AnandTech
FOLLOW US
, " + # SUBSCRIBE
enter email here ...
SUBMIT
Copyright 2016 All Rights Reserved.
Page 6 of 7
7/6/16, 3:33 PM
Page 7 of 7

Why The Prime Meridian of The World Shifted Hundreds of Feet

Hochgeladen von

Dokumentinformationen

Originaltitel

Copyright

Verfügbare Formate

Dieses Dokument teilen

Dokument teilen oder einbetten

Freigabeoptionen

Stufen Sie dieses Dokument als nützlich ein?

Sind diese Inhalte unangemessen?

Copyright:

Verfügbare Formate

Why The Prime Meridian of The World Shifted Hundreds of Feet

Hochgeladen von

Copyright:

Verfügbare Formate

Why the 'Prime Meridian of the World' Shifted Hundreds of Feet

Report this Advertisement