14 Jun 08 11:28, Cindy Haglund wrote to Roy Witt:

 RW>>  TW>> Actualy the Arctic is basic ALL floating Ice and there are
 RW>> except  TW>> for scientific Stations NO Natives living on the ICE

 BA>> There's really quite a lot of land north of the Arctic circle.  None
 BA>> right *at* the North Pole, though, or for several hundred miles
 BA>> around it.

 RW>> Contrary to popular belief, the Artic Circle isn't a circle at all.

 CH>  I thought it was a given that the 'circle' refers to the man d
 CH> made line called the arctic circle, not the shape of the landmass
 CH> within?

That isn't it either. By definition, the positions of the Tropic of
Cancer, Tropic of Capricorn, Arctic Circle and Antarctic Circle all depend
on the tilt of the Earth's axis relative to the plane of its orbit around
the sun, known technically as the "obliquity of the ecliptic".

What everyone is missing is that these 'circles' are based on the North
Pole being true north. The inclination of true north doesn't run through
either pole. However, for mapping purposes, circles work as well as do the
lines of Longitude and Latitude. If you read the fine print on your map or
compass, they mention magnetic declination. Here in Texas, true north, aka
map north is east of magnetic north.

 CH> There's that, the Tropic of Cancer, the Equator the tropic and the
 CH> Antarctic Circle. All man made lines like lattitude and longitude.
 CH> Oh and the Internationla Date Line and and GMT and and.... yes. I
 CH> read this all somewhere I best not breath a word of. oops. Smack.

GMT and the IDL are one and the same. On one side of the earth, that line
is the GMT, while 180 degrees from it, is the IDL.

 RW>> See the following JPG as an example of what it really looks like.

 RW>> http://www.world-maps.co.uk/maps/600-arctic.jpg

 CH>  Jolly 0le England no less. A friend sent me an article recently from
 CH> somewhere I forget but it's in the UK about certain Resturants in
 CH> Bejing I need to get Lee back in ere!!! heh.. He's busy moving.

Well, a world map that is found at a site in the UK...nothing more.

 CH> ..........

 RW>> PS The dotted line in that JPG represents the Artic Circle, if it
 RW>> were a true circle.

 CH>   Yup it's dotted the way 'whispers' are conveyed in comics.

;o(

                R\%/itt



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