latitude

Articles

• South
  8 November 2013, by B. B.

  The South is one of the four cardinal points. Like its opposite, the North, it enables definition of «latitude», between the North Pole and the South Pole, while East and West indicate longitude. These astronomical markers enable the coordinates of a point to be specified, giving the precise localisation on the earth’s surface. However other meaning have been added on to this first meaning, which of course remains valid, so that today in common language the word is related to (...)

• North
  15 February 2015, by B. C.

  Although the North is generally singular, and often in English associated with the definite article denoting its "established" status, the word is used to refer to several distinct realities and representations. It is at once a point and a direction, it is used for different spaces and territories, it is a scientific construction and a geographical fantasy. It is one of the cardinal points, but it is also a cultural construction: referring to different things depending on the society (...)

• Tropics
  1 October 2009, by F.D.-D.

  In the strict sense, the tropics refer to two latitudes 23°27’ north and south, defined in relation to a fairly stable cosmic factor, that is the inclination of the polar axis in relation to the ecliptic plane. Their names are derived from the signs of the zodiac (tropic of Cancer for the northern hemisphere, tropic of Capricorn for the southern hemisphere). By extension, the parts of the globe that lie between these two parallels are characterised first of all by their climates. But (...)

• Marine current
  26 December 2013, by A. H.

  A current is a moving mass of water, the displacement of which occurs in three dimensions, both on the surface and in the depths. In the marine environment, currents (and masses of water) differ from the surrounding waters in their speed of movement, temperature and salinity. Although marine currents are a phenomenon that has been known for a long time, if only from the drift of ships from their set courses, it is only in the 18th century that the different water masses in the oceans began (...)

• Altitudinal zonation
  5 October 2005, by B. E.

  The notion of altitudinal zonation is used to account for the discontinuities associated with altitude in mountain areas. It has been the subject of many iconographic representations, the principal ones generally taking the form of diagram-blocks and sections. Botanists were the first to define the working mechanisms of altitudinal zonation in mountain areas. The criteria applied to vegetation belong to physiognomy and phyto-geography (C. Troll). The altitudinal zonation of vegetation (...)