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Pole of inaccessibility

A pole of inaccessibility with respect to a geographical criterion of inaccessibility marks a location that is the most challenging to reach according to that criterion. Often it refers to the most distant point from the coastline, implying a maximum degree of continentality or oceanity. In these cases, a pole of inaccessibility can be defined as the center of the largest circle that can be drawn within an area of interest without encountering a coast. Where a coast is imprecisely defined, the pole will be similarly imprecise.

Map of distance to the nearest coastline[1] (including oceanic islands, but not lakes) with red spots marking the poles of inaccessibility of main landmasses, Great Britain, and the Iberian Peninsula, and a blue dot marking the oceanic pole of inaccessibility. Thin isolines are 250 km (160 mi) apart; thick lines 1,000 km (620 mi). Mollweide projection.

Northern pole of inaccessibility edit

 
Northern pole of inaccessibility

The Northern pole of inaccessibility, sometimes known as the Arctic pole, is located on the Arctic Ocean pack ice at a distance farthest from any landmass. The original position was wrongly believed to lie at 84°3′N 174°51′W. It is not clear who first defined this point but it may have been Sir Hubert Wilkins, who wished to traverse the Arctic Ocean by aircraft, in 1927. He was finally successful in 1928. In 1968 Sir Wally Herbert came very close to reaching what was then considered to be the position by dogsled, but by his own account, "Across the Roof of the World", did not make it due to the flow of sea ice. In 1986, an expedition of Soviet polar scientists led by Dmitry Shparo claimed to reach the original position by foot during a polar night.[citation needed]

In 2005, explorer Jim McNeill asked scientists from The National Snow and Ice Data Center and Scott Polar Research Institute to re-establish the position using modern GPS and satellite technology. This was published as a paper in the Polar Record, Cambridge University Press in 2013.[2] McNeill launched his own, unsuccessful, attempt to reach the new position in 2006, whilst measuring the depth of sea-ice for NASA.[3] In 2010 he and his Ice Warrior team were thwarted again by the poor condition of the sea ice.[4]

The new position lies at 85°48′N 176°9′W, 1,008 km (626 mi) from the three closest landmasses: It is 1,008 km from the nearest land, on Henrietta Island in the De Long Islands, at Arctic Cape on Severnaya Zemlya, and on Ellesmere Island. It is over 200 km from the originally accepted position.[5] Due to constant motion of the pack ice, no permanent structure can exist at this pole. As of February 2021, McNeill said that, as far as he could ascertain, no one had reached the new position of the Northern Pole of Inaccessibility - certainly not from the last landfall across the surface of the ocean and it remains an important scientific transect.

Southern pole of inaccessibility edit

 
The old Soviet Pole of Inaccessibility Station, revisited by Team N2i on 19 January 2007

The southern pole of inaccessibility is the point on the Antarctic continent most distant from the Southern Ocean. A variety of coordinate locations have been given for this pole. The discrepancies are due to the question of whether the "coast" is measured to the grounding line or to the edges of ice shelves, the difficulty of determining the location of the "solid" coastline, the movement of ice sheets and improvements in the accuracy of survey data over the years, as well as possible topographical errors.

The pole of inaccessibility commonly refers to the site of the Soviet Union research station mentioned below, which was constructed at 82°6′S 54°58′E / 82.100°S 54.967°E / -82.100; 54.967 (Pole of Inaccessibility (WMO))[6] (though some sources give 83°6′S 54°58′E / 83.100°S 54.967°E / -83.100; 54.967 (South Pole of Inaccessibility (IPHC))[7]). This lies 1,301 km (808 mi) from the South Pole, at an elevation of 3,718 m (12,198 ft). Using different criteria, the Scott Polar Research Institute locates this pole at 85°50′S 65°47′E / 85.833°S 65.783°E / -85.833; 65.783 (South Pole of Inaccessibility (SPRI)).[8]

Using recent datasets and cross-confirmation between the adaptive gridding and B9-Hillclimbing[9] methods discussed below, Rees et al. (2021)[10] identify two poles of inaccessibility for Antarctica: an "outer" pole defined by the edge of Antarctica's floating ice shelves and an "inner" pole defined by the grounding lines of these sheets. They find the Outer pole to be at 83°54′14″S 64°53′24″E / 83.904°S 64.890°E / -83.904; 64.890 (Antarctia's Outer Pole of Inaccessibility), 1,590.4 km (988.2 mi) from the ocean, and the Inner pole to be at 83°36′36″S 53°43′12″E / 83.610°S 53.720°E / -83.610; 53.720 (Antarctia's Inner Pole of Inaccessibility), 1,179.4 km (732.8 mi) from the grounding lines.

The southern pole of inaccessibility is far more remote and difficult to reach than the geographic South Pole. On 14 December 1958, the 3rd Soviet Antarctic Expedition for International Geophysical Year research work, led by Yevgeny Tolstikov, established the temporary Pole of Inaccessibility Station (Polyus Nedostupnosti) at 82°6′S 54°58′E / 82.100°S 54.967°E / -82.100; 54.967 (Pole of Inaccessibility Station). A second Russian team returned there in 1967. Today, a building still remains at this location, marked by a bust of Vladimir Lenin that faces towards Moscow, and protected as a historical site.

On 11 December 2005, at 7:57 UTC, Ramón Hernando de Larramendi, Juan Manuel Viu, and Ignacio Oficialdegui, members of the Spanish Transantarctic Expedition, reached for the first time in history the southern pole of inaccessibility at 82°53′14″S 55°4′30″E / 82.88722°S 55.07500°E / -82.88722; 55.07500 (British Antarctic Survey-accredited Pole of Inaccessibility), updated that year by the British Antarctic Survey. The team continued their journey towards the second southern pole of inaccessibility, the one that accounts for the ice shelves as well as the continental land, and they were the first expedition to reach it, on 14 December 2005, at 83°50′37″S 65°43′30″E / 83.84361°S 65.72500°E / -83.84361; 65.72500 (British Antarctic Survey-accredited Pole of Inaccessibility). Both achievements took place within an ambitious pioneer crossing of the eastern Antarctic Plateau that started at Novolazarevskaya Station and ended at Progress Base after more than 4,500 km (2,800 mi). This was the fastest polar journey ever achieved without mechanical aid, with an average rate of around 90 km (56 mi) per day and a maximum of 311 km (193 mi) per day, using kites as their power source.[11][12][13][14]

On 4 December 2006, Team N2i, consisting of Henry Cookson, Rupert Longsdon, Rory Sweet and Paul Landry, embarked on an expedition to be the first to reach the historic pole of inaccessibility location without direct mechanical assistance, using a combination of traditional man hauling and kite skiing. The team reached the old abandoned station on 19 January 2007, rediscovering the forgotten statue of Lenin left there by the Soviets some 48 years previously.[15] The team found that only the bust on top of the building remained visible; the rest was buried under the snow.[16] The explorers were picked up from the spot by a plane from Vostok base, flown to Progress Base and taken back to Cape Town on the Akademik Fyodorov, a Russian polar research vessel.[16]

On 27 December 2011, Sebastian Copeland and partner Eric McNair-Laundry also reached the 82°6′S 54°58′E / 82.100°S 54.967°E / -82.100; 54.967 (Pole of Inaccessibility Station) southern pole of inaccessibility. They were the first to do so without resupply or mechanical support, departing from Novolazarevskaya Station on their way to the South Pole to complete the first East/West crossing of Antarctica through both poles, over 4,000 km (2,485 mi).[17]

As mentioned above, due to improvements in technology and the position of the continental edge of Antarctica being debated, the exact position of the best estimate of the pole of inaccessibility may vary. However, for the convenience of sport expeditions, a fixed point is preferred, and the Soviet station has been used for this role. This has been recognized by Guinness World Records for Team N2i's expedition in 2006–2007.[18]

Oceanic pole of inaccessibility edit

 
Location of Point Nemo in relation to three closest coastline points

The oceanic pole of inaccessibility, also known as Point Nemo, is located at roughly 48°52.6′S 123°23.6′W / 48.8767°S 123.3933°W / -48.8767; -123.3933[19] and is the place in the ocean that is farthest from land. It represents the solution to the "longest swim" problem.[20] The problem entails finding such a place in the world ocean where, if a person fell overboard while on a ship at sea, they would be as far away from any land in any direction as possible. It lies in the South Pacific Ocean, and is equally distant from the three closest land vertices which are each roughly 2,688 km (1,670 mi) away. Those vertices are Pandora Islet of the Ducie Island atoll (an island of the Pitcairn Islands) to the north; Motu Nui (adjacent to Easter Island) to the northeast; and Maher Island (near the larger Siple Island, off the coast of Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica) to the south.[19] The exact coordinates of Point Nemo depend on what the exact coordinates of these three islands are, since the nature of the "longest swim" problem means that the ocean point is equally far from each.[20]

The area is so remote that—as with any location more than 400 kilometres (250 mi) from an inhabited area—sometimes the closest human beings are astronauts aboard the International Space Station when it passes overhead.[21][22]

The antipode of Point Nemo – the point on the surface of the Earth that is diametrically opposite of it – is located at roughly 48°52.6′N 56°36.4′E / 48.8767°N 56.6067°E / 48.8767; 56.6067, in the Aktobe region of western Kazahkstan, roughly 50 km (30 miles) SSE of the town of Shubarkuduk.

Point Nemo is relatively lifeless; its location within the South Pacific Gyre blocks nutrients from reaching the area, and being so far from land it gets little nutrient run-off from coastal waters.[21]

To the west the region of the South Pacific Ocean is also the site of the geographic center of the water hemisphere, at 47°24′42″S 177°22′45″E / 47.411667°S 177.379167°E / -47.411667; 177.379167 near New Zealand's Bounty Islands. The geographic center of the Pacific Ocean lies further north-west where the Line Islands begin, west from Starbuck Island at 4°58′S 158°45′W / 4.97°S 158.75°W / -4.97; -158.75.[23]

History edit

Point Nemo was first identified by Croatian survey engineer Hrvoje Lukatela [fr] in 1992.[22] In 2022, Lukatela recalculated the coordinates of Point Nemo using OpenStreetMap data as well as Google Maps data in order to compare those results with the coordinates he first calculated using Digital Chart of the World data.[20]

The point and the areas around it have attracted literary and cultural attention, and the point itself has become known as Point Nemo, a reference to Jules Verne's Captain Nemo from the novel 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.[21][19] The novel was a childhood favorite of Lukatela's, and such, he named it after Captain Nemo.[19][24] The general area plays a major role in the 1928 short story "The Call of Cthulhu" by H. P. Lovecraft, as holding the location of the fictional city of R'lyeh, although this story was written 66 years before the identification of Point Nemo.[21]

The wider area is also known as a "spacecraft cemetery" because hundreds of decommissioned satellites, space stations, and other spacecraft have been made to fall there upon re-entering the atmosphere, to lessen the risk of hitting inhabited locations[25] or maritime traffic. The International Space Station (ISS) is planned to crash into Point Nemo in 2031.[26][27]

Continental poles of inaccessibility edit

Eurasia edit

 
Proposed continental pole of inaccessibility at 46°17′N 86°40′E
 
Distance to the sea in Asia, showing the two candidate locations for Eurasian pole of inaccessibility.

The Eurasian pole of inaccessibility (EPIA) is located in northwestern China, near the Kazakhstan border. It is also the furthest possible point on land from the ocean, given that Eurasia (or even merely Asia alone) is the largest continent on Earth.

Earlier calculations suggested that it is 2,645 km (1,644 mi) from the nearest coastline, located at 46°17′N 86°40′E / 46.283°N 86.667°E / 46.283; 86.667 (Proposed Continental Pole of Inaccessibility), approximately 320 km (200 mi) north of the city of Ürümqi, in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region of China, in the Gurbantünggüt Desert. The nearest settlements to this location are Hoxtolgay Town at 46°34′N 85°58′E / 46.567°N 85.967°E / 46.567; 85.967 (Hoxtolgay), about 50 km (31 mi) to the northwest, Xazgat Township (Chinese: 夏孜盖乡; pinyin: Xiàzīgài xiāng) at 46°20′N 86°22′E / 46.333°N 86.367°E / 46.333; 86.367 (Xazgat), about 20 km (12 mi) to the west, and Suluk at 46°15′N 86°50′E / 46.250°N 86.833°E / 46.250; 86.833 (Suluk), about 10 km (6.2 mi) to the east.[citation needed]

However, the previous pole location disregards the Gulf of Ob as part of the oceans, and a 2007 study[1] proposes two other locations as the ones farther from any ocean (within the uncertainty of coastline definition): EPIA1 44°17′N 82°11′E / 44.29°N 82.19°E / 44.29; 82.19 and EPIA2 45°17′N 88°08′E / 45.28°N 88.14°E / 45.28; 88.14, located respectively at 2,510±10 km (1,560±6 mi) and 2,514±7 km (1,562±4 mi) from the oceans.[1] These points lie in a close triangle about the Dzungarian Gate, a significant historical gateway to migration between the East and West. EPIA2 is located near a settlement called K̂as K̂îr Su in a region named K̂îzîlk̂um (قىزىلقۇم) in the Karamgay Township [zh], Burultokay County.

Elsewhere in Xinjiang, the location 43°40′52″N 87°19′52″E / 43.68111°N 87.33111°E / 43.68111; 87.33111 in the southwestern suburbs of Ürümqi (Ürümqi County) was designated by local geography experts as the "center point of Asia" in 1992, and a monument to this effect was erected there in the 1990s. The site is a local tourist attraction.[28]

Coincidentally, the continental and oceanic poles of inaccessibility have a similar radius; the Eurasian poles EPIA1 and EPIA2 are about 178 km (111 mi) closer to the ocean than the oceanic pole is to land.

Africa edit

In Africa, the pole of inaccessibility is at 5°39′N 26°10′E / 5.65°N 26.17°E / 5.65; 26.17, 1,814 km (1,127 mi) from the coast,[1] near the town of Obo in the Central African Republic and close to the country's tripoint with South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

North America edit

 
The North-West portion of the North American Pole of Inaccessibility.

In North America, the continental pole of inaccessibility is on the Pine Ridge Reservation in southwest South Dakota about 11 km (7 mi) north of the town of Allen, 1,650 km (1,030 mi) from the nearest coastline at 43°22′N 101°58′W / 43.36°N 101.97°W / 43.36; -101.97 (Pole of Inaccessibility North America).[1] The pole was marked in 2021 with a marker that represents the 7 Lakota Values and the four colors of the Lakota Medicine Wheel.[29]

South America edit

In South America, the continental pole of inaccessibility is in Brazil at 14°03′S 56°51′W / 14.05°S 56.85°W / -14.05; -56.85 (Continental Pole of Inaccessibility in South America), near Arenápolis, Mato Grosso,[1] 1,504 km (935 mi) from the nearest coastline. In 2017, the Turner Twins became the first adventurers to trek to the South American Pole of Inaccessibility.[30] In 2019, it turns out there is a second South American PIA to the north, its position varying greatly between the two coastline datasets used.[9]

Australia edit

 
Australian Pole of Inaccessibility

In Australia, the continental pole of inaccessibility is located at 23°10′S 132°16′E / 23.17°S 132.27°E / -23.17; 132.27 (Continental Pole of Inaccessibility of Australia)[1] 920 km (570 mi) from the nearest coastline, approximately 161 km (100 miles) west-northwest of Alice Springs. The nearest town is Papunya, Northern Territory, about 30 km (19 mi) to the southwest of both locations.

Methods of calculation edit

As detailed below, several factors determine how a pole is calculated using computer modeling.

Poles are calculated with respect to a particular coastline dataset. Currently used datasets are the GSHHG (Global Self-consistent, Hierarchical, High-resolution Geography Database)[31] as well as OpenStreetMap (OSM) planet dumps. The GSHHG claims 500-meter precision for 90% of identifiable coastal features, while the volunteer-build OSM give no such guarantee but nevertheless "have characteristics suggesting accuracy".[9]

Next, a distance function must be determined for calculating distances between coastlines and potential Poles. Some works tended to project data onto planes or perform spherical calculations; more recently, other works have used different algorithms and high-performance computing with ellipsoidal calculations.[9]

Finally, an optimization algorithm must be developed. Several works[1][2] use the 2007 adaptive grid method of Garcia-Castellanos and Lombardo. In this method, a rectangular grid of, e.g., 21×21 points is created. Each point's distance from the coastline is determined and the point farthest from the coast identified. The grid is then recentered on this point and shrunk by some factor. This process iterates until the grid becomes very small (e.g. at 100-meter precision).[2] Some authors claim this method could sink into a local minimum.[10] A more recent method from 2019, B9-Hillclimbing by Barnes, uses a polyhedron in 3D space to find initial points evenly spaced by 100 kilometers. These points are then grouped; the more "unique" points are subject to numerical optimization (hill climbing, simulated annealing) for the farthest distance, accelerated by a 3D Cartesian point cloud.[9] Rees (2021) shows that the two methods agree with each other to meter level.[10]

To date there has been no meta-study of the various works, and the algorithms and datasets they use. However, successive works have compared themselves with previous calculations and claimed improvement. For example, the GC & L article from 2007 was able to find hundred-kilometer errors in the "traditional" Eurasian PIA in Crane & Crane, 1987.[1] Rees using the same method updated the arctic PIA by over 200 kilometers.[2] Barnes, which improved upon the method and the dataset used, was able to improve the GC & L South American PIA by 50 kilometers, showing that bad coastline data caused an error of 57 kilometers in their reported PIA-to-coast distance.[9]

List of poles of inaccessibility edit

Poles of Inaccessibility, as determined by some authors, are listed in the table below. This list is incomplete and may not capture all works done to date.

Poles of inaccessibility as calculated by various authors
Pole Location Distance from
coast (km)
Dataset Projection Method Reference
Africa 5°39′N 26°10′E / 5.65°N 26.17°E / 5.65; 26.17 1,814 GSHHS 1996 Sphere Adaptive Grid Garcia (2007)[1]
Africa 5°38′29″N 26°09′12″E / 5.6413°N 26.1533°E / 5.6413; 26.1533 1,814.5158 GSHHG v2.3.6 (L1) WGS84 B9-Hillclimbing Barnes (2019)[9]
Africa 5°39′32″N 26°07′46″E / 5.6589°N 26.1295°E / 5.6589; 26.1295 1,815.4150 OpenStreetMap WGS84 B9-Hillclimbing Barnes (2019)[9]
Antarctica 82°06′S 54°58′E / 82.100°S 54.967°E / -82.100; 54.967 1,301 ? Traditional ? ? Soviet site (1958)[6]
Antarctica 77°23′47″S 105°23′08″E / 77.3963°S 105.3855°E / -77.3963; 105.3855 1,136.2129 GSHHG v2.3.6 (L1+L6). Erroneous. WGS84 B9-Hillclimbing Barnes (2019)[9]
Antarctica 78°15′48″S 103°38′02″E / 78.2633°S 103.6340°E / -78.2633; 103.6340 1,273.2928 GSHHG v2.3.6 (L1+L5). Erroneous. WGS84 B9-Hillclimbing Barnes (2019)[9]
Antarctica 83°54′14″S 64°53′24″E / 83.904°S 64.890°E / -83.904; 64.890 1,590.36 ADDv7.2 "Outer" WGS84 B9-Hillclimbing Rees (2021)[10]
Antarctica 83°36′36″S 53°43′12″E / 83.610°S 53.720°E / -83.610; 53.720 1,179.40 ADDv7.2 "Inner" WGS84 B9-Hillclimbing Rees (2021)[10]
Arctic Pole 85°48′07″N 176°08′56″E / 85.802°N 176.149°E / 85.802; 176.149 1,008 GSHHG 2014 WGS84 Adaptive Grid Rees (2014)[2]
Arctic Pole 85°47′28″N 176°14′19″E / 85.7911°N 176.2386°E / 85.7911; 176.2386 1,008.9112 OpenStreetMap WGS84 B9-Hillclimbing Barnes (2019)[9]
Arctic Pole 85°48′05″N 176°08′32″E / 85.8015°N 176.1423°E / 85.8015; 176.1423 1,007.6777 GSHHG v2.3.6 (L1) WGS84 B9-Hillclimbing Barnes (2019)[9]
Atlantic Ocean 24°11′06″N 43°22′13″W / 24.1851°N 43.3704°W / 24.1851; -43.3704 2,033.8849 OpenStreetMap WGS84 B9-Hillclimbing Barnes (2019)[9]
Atlantic Ocean 24°11′32″N 43°22′22″W / 24.1923°N 43.3728°W / 24.1923; -43.3728 2,033.5187 GSHHG v2.3.6 (L1) WGS84 B9-Hillclimbing Barnes (2019)[9]
Australia 23°10′S 132°16′E / 23.17°S 132.27°E / -23.17; 132.27 928[note 1] GSHHS 1996 Sphere Adaptive Grid Garcia (2007)[1]
Australia 23°2′S 132°10′E / 23.033°S 132.167°E / -23.033; 132.167 not claimed SF53-13 ? Planar map Geoscience Australia (2014)[32]
Australia 23°10′24″S 132°16′33″E / 23.1732°S 132.2759°E / -23.1732; 132.2759 925.4459 GSHHG v2.3.6 (L1) WGS84 B9-Hillclimbing Barnes (2019)[9]
Australia 23°11′41″S 132°10′22″E / 23.1948°S 132.1727°E / -23.1948; 132.1727 921.9290 OpenStreetMap WGS84 B9-Hillclimbing Barnes (2019)[9]
Eurasia 1 45°17′N 88°08′E / 45.28°N 88.14°E / 45.28; 88.14 2,514 GSHHS 1996 Sphere Adaptive Grid Garcia (2007)[1]
Eurasia 1 45°20′29″N 88°14′54″E / 45.3413°N 88.2483°E / 45.3413; 88.2483 2,513.9415 GSHHG v2.3.6 (L1) WGS84 B9-Hillclimbing Barnes (2019)[9]
Eurasia 1 45°26′37″N 88°19′02″E / 45.4435°N 88.3172°E / 45.4435; 88.3172 2,509.9536 OpenStreetMap WGS84 B9-Hillclimbing Barnes (2019)[9]
Eurasia 2 44°17′N 82°11′E / 44.29°N 82.19°E / 44.29; 82.19 2,510 GSHHS 1996 Sphere Adaptive Grid Garcia (2007)[1]
Eurasia 2 44°19′06″N 82°06′52″E / 44.3184°N 82.1144°E / 44.3184; 82.1144 2,509.9685 GSHHG v2.3.6 (L1) WGS84 B9-Hillclimbing Barnes (2019)[9]
Eurasia 2 44°40′26″N 83°58′10″E / 44.6740°N 83.9694°E / 44.6740; 83.9694 2,505.2134 OpenStreetMap WGS84 B9-Hillclimbing Barnes (2019)[9]
Great Britain 52°39′N 1°34′W / 52.65°N 1.56°W / 52.65; -1.56 108 GSHHS 1996 Sphere Adaptive Grid Garcia (2007)[1]
Great Britain 52°00′51″N 0°57′50″W / 52.0141°N 0.9640°W / 52.0141; -0.9640 114.4462 OpenStreetMap WGS84 B9-Hillclimbing Barnes (2019)[9]
Great Britain 52°39′19″N 1°33′51″W / 52.6552°N 1.5641°W / 52.6552; -1.5641 108.0925 GSHHG v2.3.6 (L1) WGS84 B9-Hillclimbing Barnes (2019)[9]
Greenland 76°30′N 41°00′W / 76.50°N 41.0°W / 76.50; -41.0 469 GSHHS 1996 Sphere Adaptive Grid Garcia (2007)[1]
Greenland 75°57′58″N 40°25′26″W / 75.9660°N 40.4239°W / 75.9660; -40.4239 471.9905 GSHHG v2.3.6 (L1) WGS84 B9-Hillclimbing Barnes (2019)[9]
Greenland 76°01′50″N 40°23′25″W / 76.0305°N 40.3902°W / 76.0305; -40.3902 474.2257 OpenStreetMap WGS84 B9-Hillclimbing Barnes (2019)[9]
Indian Ocean 47°37′55″S 99°58′04″E / 47.6319°S 99.9677°E / -47.6319; 99.9677 1,940.8913 OpenStreetMap WGS84 B9-Hillclimbing Barnes (2019)[9]
Indian Ocean 47°44′05″S 100°03′17″E / 47.7347°S 100.0547°E / -47.7347; 100.0547 1,943.3848 GSHHG L1 WGS84 B9-Hillclimbing Barnes (2019)[9]
Madagascar 18°20′S 46°40′E / 18.33°S 46.67°E / -18.33; 46.67 260 GSHHS 1996 Sphere Adaptive Grid Garcia (2007)[1]
Madagascar 18°20′18″S 46°39′59″E / 18.3382°S 46.6663°E / -18.3382; 46.6663 259.5957 GSHHG v2.3.6 (L1) WGS84 B9-Hillclimbing Barnes (2019)[9]
Madagascar 18°15′52″S 46°42′01″E / 18.2645°S 46.7003°E / -18.2645; 46.7003 264.0657 OpenStreetMap WGS84 B9-Hillclimbing Barnes (2019)[9]
North America 43°28′N 101°58′W / 43.46°N 101.97°W / 43.46; -101.97 1,639[note 2] GSHHS 1996 Sphere Adaptive Grid Garcia (2007)[1]
North America 43°22′35″N 102°00′40″W / 43.3764°N 102.0111°W / 43.3764; -102.0111 1,639.6549 GSHHG v2.3.6 (L1) WGS84 B9-Hillclimbing Barnes (2019)[9]
North America 43°26′13″N 102°00′36″W / 43.4370°N 102.0101°W / 43.4370; -102.0101 1,643.7562 OpenStreetMap WGS84 B9-Hillclimbing Barnes (2019)[9]
Pacific Ocean (Point Nemo) 48°53′S 123°27′W / 48.89°S 123.45°W / -48.89; -123.45 2,690 GSHHS 1996 Sphere Adaptive Grid Garcia (2007)[1]
Pacific Ocean (Point Nemo) 49°00′11″S 123°23′31″W / 49.0031°S 123.3920°W / -49.0031; -123.3920 2,701.1721 OpenStreetMap WGS84 B9-Hillclimbing Barnes (2019)[9]
Pacific Ocean (Point Nemo) 49°01′38″S 123°26′04″W / 49.0273°S 123.4345°W / -49.0273; -123.4345 2,704.7991 GSHHG v2.3.6 (L1) WGS84 B9-Hillclimbing Barnes (2019)[9]
South America 14°03′S 56°51′W / 14.05°S 56.85°W / -14.05; -56.85 1,517[note 3] GSHHS 1996 Sphere Adaptive Grid Garcia (2007)[1]
South America 1 14°23′25″S 56°59′32″W / 14.3902°S 56.9922°W / -14.3902; -56.9922 1,490.5321 GSHHG v2.3.6 (L1) WGS84 B9-Hillclimbing Barnes (2019)[9]
South America 1 6°19′29″S 63°11′19″W / 6.3248°S 63.1885°W / -6.3248; -63.1885 1,511.6636 OpenStreetMap WGS84 B9-Hillclimbing Barnes (2019)[9]
South America 2 10°44′03″S 59°12′45″W / 10.7342°S 59.2126°W / -10.7342; -59.2126 1,467.2206 OpenStreetMap WGS84 B9-Hillclimbing Barnes (2019)[9]
South America 2 5°03′13″S 65°32′55″W / 5.0537°S 65.5487°W / -5.0537; -65.5487 1,476.4901 GSHHG v2.3.6 (L1) WGS84 B9-Hillclimbing Barnes (2019)[9]
  1. ^ Claimed; actually 915.6601 in GSHHG v2.3.6.[9]
  2. ^ Claimed; actually 1629.7740 in GSHHG v2.3.6.[9]
  3. ^ Claimed; actually 1449.9471 in GSHHG v2.3.6.[9]

ArcGIS personnel wrote a 2015 page with their calculations based on a flat Earth. The results are too inaccurate to be included here.[9]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Garcia-Castellanos, Daniel; Lombardo, Umberto (September 2007). (PDF). Scottish Geographical Journal. 123 (3): 227–233. doi:10.1080/14702540801897809. S2CID 55876083. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 June 2014. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  2. ^ a b c d e Rees, Gareth; Headland, Robert; Scambos, Ted; Haran, Terry (2014). "Finding the Arctic pole of inaccessibility". Polar Record. 50: 86–91. doi:10.1017/S003224741300051X. S2CID 140637055.
  3. ^ "Explorer set for historic Arctic adventure". BBC. 20 February 2006. from the original on 27 May 2006. Retrieved 10 November 2010.
  4. ^ Becker, Kraig (10 February 2010). "North Pole 2010: Expedition To The Pole of Inaccessibility is Postponed". theadventureblog.blogspot.com. The Adventure Blog. from the original on 13 October 2016. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  5. ^ Duhaime-Ross, Arielle (15 October 2013). "A New Race to Earth's End". Scientific American. 309 (16): 16. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican1113-16a. PMID 24283006.
  6. ^ a b Danilov, A.I. (1994). . wmo.int. World Meteorological Organization. Archived from the original on 13 May 2016. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  7. ^ "Historic Sites & Monuments in Antarctica". polarheritage.com. International Polar Heritage Committee. 2016. from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  8. ^ Headland, R.K. (1996). "Polar Information Sheets". spri.cam.ac.uk. Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge. from the original on 28 May 2016. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an Barnes, Richard (2019). "Optimal orientations of discrete global grids and the Poles of Inaccessibility". International Journal of Digital Earth. 13 (7): 803–816. doi:10.1080/17538947.2019.1576786. S2CID 134622203.
  10. ^ a b c d e Rees, Gareth; Gerrish, Laura; Fox, Adrian; Barnes, Richard (2021). "Finding Antarctica's Pole of Inaccessibility". Polar Record. 57 (e40): 1–6. doi:10.1017/S0032247421000620. S2CID 239011407.
  11. ^ . explorersweb.com. ThePoles.com. 15 December 2005. Archived from the original on 14 April 2016. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  12. ^ . explorersweb.com. ThePoles.com. 12 December 2012. Archived from the original on 21 March 2008. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  13. ^ "Reached the South Pole of Inaccessibility". Barrabes.com. 13 December 2005. from the original on 10 November 2016. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  14. ^ . tierraspolares.es. Tierras Polares. Archived from the original on 11 January 2009. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  15. ^ . Archived from the original on 16 August 2011. Retrieved 16 August 2011.
  16. ^ a b "UK team makes polar trek history". news.bbc.co.uk. BBC News. 20 January 2007. from the original on 22 November 2016. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  17. ^ "Polar News ExplorersWeb – ExWeb interview Sebastian Copeland and Eric McNair-Landry (part 1/2): The battle of body and gear across 2 South Poles". Explorersweb.com. ExWeb. 5 March 2012. from the original on 29 May 2016. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  18. ^ . teamn2i.com. Guinness World Records. 19 January 2007. Archived from the original on 14 May 2016. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  19. ^ a b c d "Where is Point Nemo?". National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
  20. ^ a b c Lukatela, Hrvoje (September 2022). "Point Nemo, revisited". lukatela.com.
  21. ^ a b c d Davies, Ella (5 October 2016). "The Place Furthest from Land is Known as Point Nemo". BBC. Retrieved 24 July 2019.
  22. ^ a b "Point Nemo is the most remote oceanic spot – yet it's still awash with plastic". The Guardian. 18 May 2018. Retrieved 24 July 2019.
  23. ^ Tan, Arjun (2021). "Determining the Areas and Geographical Centers of Pacific Ocean and its Northern and Southern Halves". International Journal of Oceans and Oceanography. Research India Publications. p. 25-31. ISSN 0973-2667. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
  24. ^ Lukatela, Hrvoje (2022). "Point Nemo". lukatela.com.
  25. ^ Stirone, Shannon (13 June 2016). "This Is Where the International Space Station Will Go to Die". Popular Science. Archived from the original on 16 June 2016. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  26. ^ "International Space Station to crash down to Earth in January 2031". BBC News. 3 February 2022. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
  27. ^ Bock, Michael (11 February 2022). "FAQ: The International Space Station 2022 Transition Plan". NASA.
  28. ^ "43° 40' 52"N 87° 19' 52" E Geographic Center of Asia – The Heart of Asia (亚洲之心) – Xinjiang (新疆), China". confluence.org. Confluence. 22 June 2006. from the original on 2 June 2016. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  29. ^ Henderson, Kyle (13 July 2021). "Marking the North American Pole of Inaccessibility". from the original on 13 July 2021.
  30. ^ Paterson, Rosie (30 October 2017). "The Turner Twins on trekking to the Green Pole, avoiding disaster and 'fields of plastic stretching for miles'". Country Life. from the original on 10 January 2018.
  31. ^ Wessel, Paul; Walter, Smith (2016). "A Global Self-consistent, Hierarchical, High-resolution Geography Database".
  32. ^ "Centre of Australia, States and Territories". ga.gov.au. Geoscience Australia. 15 May 2014. from the original on 31 October 2016. Retrieved 10 November 2016.

External links edit

  • How to calculate PIAs

pole, inaccessibility, antarctic, research, station, pole, inaccessibility, research, station, pole, inaccessibility, with, respect, geographical, criterion, inaccessibility, marks, location, that, most, challenging, reach, according, that, criterion, often, r. For the Antarctic research station see Pole of Inaccessibility research station A pole of inaccessibility with respect to a geographical criterion of inaccessibility marks a location that is the most challenging to reach according to that criterion Often it refers to the most distant point from the coastline implying a maximum degree of continentality or oceanity In these cases a pole of inaccessibility can be defined as the center of the largest circle that can be drawn within an area of interest without encountering a coast Where a coast is imprecisely defined the pole will be similarly imprecise Map of distance to the nearest coastline 1 including oceanic islands but not lakes with red spots marking the poles of inaccessibility of main landmasses Great Britain and the Iberian Peninsula and a blue dot marking the oceanic pole of inaccessibility Thin isolines are 250 km 160 mi apart thick lines 1 000 km 620 mi Mollweide projection Contents 1 Northern pole of inaccessibility 2 Southern pole of inaccessibility 3 Oceanic pole of inaccessibility 3 1 History 4 Continental poles of inaccessibility 4 1 Eurasia 4 2 Africa 4 3 North America 4 4 South America 4 5 Australia 5 Methods of calculation 6 List of poles of inaccessibility 7 See also 8 References 9 External linksNorthern pole of inaccessibility edit nbsp Northern pole of inaccessibilityThe Northern pole of inaccessibility sometimes known as the Arctic pole is located on the Arctic Ocean pack ice at a distance farthest from any landmass The original position was wrongly believed to lie at 84 3 N 174 51 W It is not clear who first defined this point but it may have been Sir Hubert Wilkins who wished to traverse the Arctic Ocean by aircraft in 1927 He was finally successful in 1928 In 1968 Sir Wally Herbert came very close to reaching what was then considered to be the position by dogsled but by his own account Across the Roof of the World did not make it due to the flow of sea ice In 1986 an expedition of Soviet polar scientists led by Dmitry Shparo claimed to reach the original position by foot during a polar night citation needed In 2005 explorer Jim McNeill asked scientists from The National Snow and Ice Data Center and Scott Polar Research Institute to re establish the position using modern GPS and satellite technology This was published as a paper in the Polar Record Cambridge University Press in 2013 2 McNeill launched his own unsuccessful attempt to reach the new position in 2006 whilst measuring the depth of sea ice for NASA 3 In 2010 he and his Ice Warrior team were thwarted again by the poor condition of the sea ice 4 The new position lies at 85 48 N 176 9 W 1 008 km 626 mi from the three closest landmasses It is 1 008 km from the nearest land on Henrietta Island in the De Long Islands at Arctic Cape on Severnaya Zemlya and on Ellesmere Island It is over 200 km from the originally accepted position 5 Due to constant motion of the pack ice no permanent structure can exist at this pole As of February 2021 McNeill said that as far as he could ascertain no one had reached the new position of the Northern Pole of Inaccessibility certainly not from the last landfall across the surface of the ocean and it remains an important scientific transect Southern pole of inaccessibility edit nbsp The old Soviet Pole of Inaccessibility Station revisited by Team N2i on 19 January 2007The southern pole of inaccessibility is the point on the Antarctic continent most distant from the Southern Ocean A variety of coordinate locations have been given for this pole The discrepancies are due to the question of whether the coast is measured to the grounding line or to the edges of ice shelves the difficulty of determining the location of the solid coastline the movement of ice sheets and improvements in the accuracy of survey data over the years as well as possible topographical errors The pole of inaccessibility commonly refers to the site of the Soviet Union research station mentioned below which was constructed at 82 6 S 54 58 E 82 100 S 54 967 E 82 100 54 967 Pole of Inaccessibility WMO 6 though some sources give 83 6 S 54 58 E 83 100 S 54 967 E 83 100 54 967 South Pole of Inaccessibility IPHC 7 This lies 1 301 km 808 mi from the South Pole at an elevation of 3 718 m 12 198 ft Using different criteria the Scott Polar Research Institute locates this pole at 85 50 S 65 47 E 85 833 S 65 783 E 85 833 65 783 South Pole of Inaccessibility SPRI 8 Using recent datasets and cross confirmation between the adaptive gridding and B9 Hillclimbing 9 methods discussed below Rees et al 2021 10 identify two poles of inaccessibility for Antarctica an outer pole defined by the edge of Antarctica s floating ice shelves and an inner pole defined by the grounding lines of these sheets They find the Outer pole to be at 83 54 14 S 64 53 24 E 83 904 S 64 890 E 83 904 64 890 Antarctia s Outer Pole of Inaccessibility 1 590 4 km 988 2 mi from the ocean and the Inner pole to be at 83 36 36 S 53 43 12 E 83 610 S 53 720 E 83 610 53 720 Antarctia s Inner Pole of Inaccessibility 1 179 4 km 732 8 mi from the grounding lines The southern pole of inaccessibility is far more remote and difficult to reach than the geographic South Pole On 14 December 1958 the 3rd Soviet Antarctic Expedition for International Geophysical Year research work led by Yevgeny Tolstikov established the temporary Pole of Inaccessibility Station Polyus Nedostupnosti at 82 6 S 54 58 E 82 100 S 54 967 E 82 100 54 967 Pole of Inaccessibility Station A second Russian team returned there in 1967 Today a building still remains at this location marked by a bust of Vladimir Lenin that faces towards Moscow and protected as a historical site On 11 December 2005 at 7 57 UTC Ramon Hernando de Larramendi Juan Manuel Viu and Ignacio Oficialdegui members of the Spanish Transantarctic Expedition reached for the first time in history the southern pole of inaccessibility at 82 53 14 S 55 4 30 E 82 88722 S 55 07500 E 82 88722 55 07500 British Antarctic Survey accredited Pole of Inaccessibility updated that year by the British Antarctic Survey The team continued their journey towards the second southern pole of inaccessibility the one that accounts for the ice shelves as well as the continental land and they were the first expedition to reach it on 14 December 2005 at 83 50 37 S 65 43 30 E 83 84361 S 65 72500 E 83 84361 65 72500 British Antarctic Survey accredited Pole of Inaccessibility Both achievements took place within an ambitious pioneer crossing of the eastern Antarctic Plateau that started at Novolazarevskaya Station and ended at Progress Base after more than 4 500 km 2 800 mi This was the fastest polar journey ever achieved without mechanical aid with an average rate of around 90 km 56 mi per day and a maximum of 311 km 193 mi per day using kites as their power source 11 12 13 14 On 4 December 2006 Team N2i consisting of Henry Cookson Rupert Longsdon Rory Sweet and Paul Landry embarked on an expedition to be the first to reach the historic pole of inaccessibility location without direct mechanical assistance using a combination of traditional man hauling and kite skiing The team reached the old abandoned station on 19 January 2007 rediscovering the forgotten statue of Lenin left there by the Soviets some 48 years previously 15 The team found that only the bust on top of the building remained visible the rest was buried under the snow 16 The explorers were picked up from the spot by a plane from Vostok base flown to Progress Base and taken back to Cape Town on the Akademik Fyodorov a Russian polar research vessel 16 On 27 December 2011 Sebastian Copeland and partner Eric McNair Laundry also reached the 82 6 S 54 58 E 82 100 S 54 967 E 82 100 54 967 Pole of Inaccessibility Station southern pole of inaccessibility They were the first to do so without resupply or mechanical support departing from Novolazarevskaya Station on their way to the South Pole to complete the first East West crossing of Antarctica through both poles over 4 000 km 2 485 mi 17 As mentioned above due to improvements in technology and the position of the continental edge of Antarctica being debated the exact position of the best estimate of the pole of inaccessibility may vary However for the convenience of sport expeditions a fixed point is preferred and the Soviet station has been used for this role This has been recognized by Guinness World Records for Team N2i s expedition in 2006 2007 18 Oceanic pole of inaccessibility edit nbsp Location of Point Nemo in relation to three closest coastline pointsThe oceanic pole of inaccessibility also known as Point Nemo is located at roughly 48 52 6 S 123 23 6 W 48 8767 S 123 3933 W 48 8767 123 3933 19 and is the place in the ocean that is farthest from land It represents the solution to the longest swim problem 20 The problem entails finding such a place in the world ocean where if a person fell overboard while on a ship at sea they would be as far away from any land in any direction as possible It lies in the South Pacific Ocean and is equally distant from the three closest land vertices which are each roughly 2 688 km 1 670 mi away Those vertices are Pandora Islet of the Ducie Island atoll an island of the Pitcairn Islands to the north Motu Nui adjacent to Easter Island to the northeast and Maher Island near the larger Siple Island off the coast of Marie Byrd Land Antarctica to the south 19 The exact coordinates of Point Nemo depend on what the exact coordinates of these three islands are since the nature of the longest swim problem means that the ocean point is equally far from each 20 The area is so remote that as with any location more than 400 kilometres 250 mi from an inhabited area sometimes the closest human beings are astronauts aboard the International Space Station when it passes overhead 21 22 The antipode of Point Nemo the point on the surface of the Earth that is diametrically opposite of it is located at roughly 48 52 6 N 56 36 4 E 48 8767 N 56 6067 E 48 8767 56 6067 in the Aktobe region of western Kazahkstan roughly 50 km 30 miles SSE of the town of Shubarkuduk Point Nemo is relatively lifeless its location within the South Pacific Gyre blocks nutrients from reaching the area and being so far from land it gets little nutrient run off from coastal waters 21 To the west the region of the South Pacific Ocean is also the site of the geographic center of the water hemisphere at 47 24 42 S 177 22 45 E 47 411667 S 177 379167 E 47 411667 177 379167 near New Zealand s Bounty Islands The geographic center of the Pacific Ocean lies further north west where the Line Islands begin west from Starbuck Island at 4 58 S 158 45 W 4 97 S 158 75 W 4 97 158 75 23 History edit Point Nemo was first identified by Croatian survey engineer Hrvoje Lukatela fr in 1992 22 In 2022 Lukatela recalculated the coordinates of Point Nemo using OpenStreetMap data as well as Google Maps data in order to compare those results with the coordinates he first calculated using Digital Chart of the World data 20 The point and the areas around it have attracted literary and cultural attention and the point itself has become known as Point Nemo a reference to Jules Verne s Captain Nemo from the novel 20 000 Leagues Under the Sea 21 19 The novel was a childhood favorite of Lukatela s and such he named it after Captain Nemo 19 24 The general area plays a major role in the 1928 short story The Call of Cthulhu by H P Lovecraft as holding the location of the fictional city of R lyeh although this story was written 66 years before the identification of Point Nemo 21 The wider area is also known as a spacecraft cemetery because hundreds of decommissioned satellites space stations and other spacecraft have been made to fall there upon re entering the atmosphere to lessen the risk of hitting inhabited locations 25 or maritime traffic The International Space Station ISS is planned to crash into Point Nemo in 2031 26 27 Continental poles of inaccessibility editEurasia edit nbsp Proposed continental pole of inaccessibility at 46 17 N 86 40 E nbsp Distance to the sea in Asia showing the two candidate locations for Eurasian pole of inaccessibility The Eurasian pole of inaccessibility EPIA is located in northwestern China near the Kazakhstan border It is also the furthest possible point on land from the ocean given that Eurasia or even merely Asia alone is the largest continent on Earth Earlier calculations suggested that it is 2 645 km 1 644 mi from the nearest coastline located at 46 17 N 86 40 E 46 283 N 86 667 E 46 283 86 667 Proposed Continental Pole of Inaccessibility approximately 320 km 200 mi north of the city of Urumqi in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region of China in the Gurbantunggut Desert The nearest settlements to this location are Hoxtolgay Town at 46 34 N 85 58 E 46 567 N 85 967 E 46 567 85 967 Hoxtolgay about 50 km 31 mi to the northwest Xazgat Township Chinese 夏孜盖乡 pinyin Xiazigai xiang at 46 20 N 86 22 E 46 333 N 86 367 E 46 333 86 367 Xazgat about 20 km 12 mi to the west and Suluk at 46 15 N 86 50 E 46 250 N 86 833 E 46 250 86 833 Suluk about 10 km 6 2 mi to the east citation needed However the previous pole location disregards the Gulf of Ob as part of the oceans and a 2007 study 1 proposes two other locations as the ones farther from any ocean within the uncertainty of coastline definition EPIA1 44 17 N 82 11 E 44 29 N 82 19 E 44 29 82 19 and EPIA2 45 17 N 88 08 E 45 28 N 88 14 E 45 28 88 14 located respectively at 2 510 10 km 1 560 6 mi and 2 514 7 km 1 562 4 mi from the oceans 1 These points lie in a close triangle about the Dzungarian Gate a significant historical gateway to migration between the East and West EPIA2 is located near a settlement called K as K ir Su in a region named K izilk um قىزىلقۇم in the Karamgay Township zh Burultokay County Elsewhere in Xinjiang the location 43 40 52 N 87 19 52 E 43 68111 N 87 33111 E 43 68111 87 33111 in the southwestern suburbs of Urumqi Urumqi County was designated by local geography experts as the center point of Asia in 1992 and a monument to this effect was erected there in the 1990s The site is a local tourist attraction 28 Coincidentally the continental and oceanic poles of inaccessibility have a similar radius the Eurasian poles EPIA1 and EPIA2 are about 178 km 111 mi closer to the ocean than the oceanic pole is to land Africa edit In Africa the pole of inaccessibility is at 5 39 N 26 10 E 5 65 N 26 17 E 5 65 26 17 1 814 km 1 127 mi from the coast 1 near the town of Obo in the Central African Republic and close to the country s tripoint with South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo North America edit nbsp The North West portion of the North American Pole of Inaccessibility In North America the continental pole of inaccessibility is on the Pine Ridge Reservation in southwest South Dakota about 11 km 7 mi north of the town of Allen 1 650 km 1 030 mi from the nearest coastline at 43 22 N 101 58 W 43 36 N 101 97 W 43 36 101 97 Pole of Inaccessibility North America 1 The pole was marked in 2021 with a marker that represents the 7 Lakota Values and the four colors of the Lakota Medicine Wheel 29 South America edit In South America the continental pole of inaccessibility is in Brazil at 14 03 S 56 51 W 14 05 S 56 85 W 14 05 56 85 Continental Pole of Inaccessibility in South America near Arenapolis Mato Grosso 1 1 504 km 935 mi from the nearest coastline In 2017 the Turner Twins became the first adventurers to trek to the South American Pole of Inaccessibility 30 In 2019 it turns out there is a second South American PIA to the north its position varying greatly between the two coastline datasets used 9 Australia edit nbsp Australian Pole of InaccessibilityIn Australia the continental pole of inaccessibility is located at 23 10 S 132 16 E 23 17 S 132 27 E 23 17 132 27 Continental Pole of Inaccessibility of Australia 1 920 km 570 mi from the nearest coastline approximately 161 km 100 miles west northwest of Alice Springs The nearest town is Papunya Northern Territory about 30 km 19 mi to the southwest of both locations Methods of calculation editAs detailed below several factors determine how a pole is calculated using computer modeling Poles are calculated with respect to a particular coastline dataset Currently used datasets are the GSHHG Global Self consistent Hierarchical High resolution Geography Database 31 as well as OpenStreetMap OSM planet dumps The GSHHG claims 500 meter precision for 90 of identifiable coastal features while the volunteer build OSM give no such guarantee but nevertheless have characteristics suggesting accuracy 9 Next a distance function must be determined for calculating distances between coastlines and potential Poles Some works tended to project data onto planes or perform spherical calculations more recently other works have used different algorithms and high performance computing with ellipsoidal calculations 9 Finally an optimization algorithm must be developed Several works 1 2 use the 2007 adaptive grid method of Garcia Castellanos and Lombardo In this method a rectangular grid of e g 21 21 points is created Each point s distance from the coastline is determined and the point farthest from the coast identified The grid is then recentered on this point and shrunk by some factor This process iterates until the grid becomes very small e g at 100 meter precision 2 Some authors claim this method could sink into a local minimum 10 A more recent method from 2019 B9 Hillclimbing by Barnes uses a polyhedron in 3D space to find initial points evenly spaced by 100 kilometers These points are then grouped the more unique points are subject to numerical optimization hill climbing simulated annealing for the farthest distance accelerated by a 3D Cartesian point cloud 9 Rees 2021 shows that the two methods agree with each other to meter level 10 To date there has been no meta study of the various works and the algorithms and datasets they use However successive works have compared themselves with previous calculations and claimed improvement For example the GC amp L article from 2007 was able to find hundred kilometer errors in the traditional Eurasian PIA in Crane amp Crane 1987 1 Rees using the same method updated the arctic PIA by over 200 kilometers 2 Barnes which improved upon the method and the dataset used was able to improve the GC amp L South American PIA by 50 kilometers showing that bad coastline data caused an error of 57 kilometers in their reported PIA to coast distance 9 List of poles of inaccessibility editPoles of Inaccessibility as determined by some authors are listed in the table below This list is incomplete and may not capture all works done to date Poles of inaccessibility as calculated by various authors Pole Location Distance fromcoast km Dataset Projection Method ReferenceAfrica 5 39 N 26 10 E 5 65 N 26 17 E 5 65 26 17 1 814 GSHHS 1996 Sphere Adaptive Grid Garcia 2007 1 Africa 5 38 29 N 26 09 12 E 5 6413 N 26 1533 E 5 6413 26 1533 1 814 5158 GSHHG v2 3 6 L1 WGS84 B9 Hillclimbing Barnes 2019 9 Africa 5 39 32 N 26 07 46 E 5 6589 N 26 1295 E 5 6589 26 1295 1 815 4150 OpenStreetMap WGS84 B9 Hillclimbing Barnes 2019 9 Antarctica 82 06 S 54 58 E 82 100 S 54 967 E 82 100 54 967 1 301 Traditional Soviet site 1958 6 Antarctica 77 23 47 S 105 23 08 E 77 3963 S 105 3855 E 77 3963 105 3855 1 136 2129 GSHHG v2 3 6 L1 L6 Erroneous WGS84 B9 Hillclimbing Barnes 2019 9 Antarctica 78 15 48 S 103 38 02 E 78 2633 S 103 6340 E 78 2633 103 6340 1 273 2928 GSHHG v2 3 6 L1 L5 Erroneous WGS84 B9 Hillclimbing Barnes 2019 9 Antarctica 83 54 14 S 64 53 24 E 83 904 S 64 890 E 83 904 64 890 1 590 36 ADDv7 2 Outer WGS84 B9 Hillclimbing Rees 2021 10 Antarctica 83 36 36 S 53 43 12 E 83 610 S 53 720 E 83 610 53 720 1 179 40 ADDv7 2 Inner WGS84 B9 Hillclimbing Rees 2021 10 Arctic Pole 85 48 07 N 176 08 56 E 85 802 N 176 149 E 85 802 176 149 1 008 GSHHG 2014 WGS84 Adaptive Grid Rees 2014 2 Arctic Pole 85 47 28 N 176 14 19 E 85 7911 N 176 2386 E 85 7911 176 2386 1 008 9112 OpenStreetMap WGS84 B9 Hillclimbing Barnes 2019 9 Arctic Pole 85 48 05 N 176 08 32 E 85 8015 N 176 1423 E 85 8015 176 1423 1 007 6777 GSHHG v2 3 6 L1 WGS84 B9 Hillclimbing Barnes 2019 9 Atlantic Ocean 24 11 06 N 43 22 13 W 24 1851 N 43 3704 W 24 1851 43 3704 2 033 8849 OpenStreetMap WGS84 B9 Hillclimbing Barnes 2019 9 Atlantic Ocean 24 11 32 N 43 22 22 W 24 1923 N 43 3728 W 24 1923 43 3728 2 033 5187 GSHHG v2 3 6 L1 WGS84 B9 Hillclimbing Barnes 2019 9 Australia 23 10 S 132 16 E 23 17 S 132 27 E 23 17 132 27 928 note 1 GSHHS 1996 Sphere Adaptive Grid Garcia 2007 1 Australia 23 2 S 132 10 E 23 033 S 132 167 E 23 033 132 167 not claimed SF53 13 Planar map Geoscience Australia 2014 32 Australia 23 10 24 S 132 16 33 E 23 1732 S 132 2759 E 23 1732 132 2759 925 4459 GSHHG v2 3 6 L1 WGS84 B9 Hillclimbing Barnes 2019 9 Australia 23 11 41 S 132 10 22 E 23 1948 S 132 1727 E 23 1948 132 1727 921 9290 OpenStreetMap WGS84 B9 Hillclimbing Barnes 2019 9 Eurasia 1 45 17 N 88 08 E 45 28 N 88 14 E 45 28 88 14 2 514 GSHHS 1996 Sphere Adaptive Grid Garcia 2007 1 Eurasia 1 45 20 29 N 88 14 54 E 45 3413 N 88 2483 E 45 3413 88 2483 2 513 9415 GSHHG v2 3 6 L1 WGS84 B9 Hillclimbing Barnes 2019 9 Eurasia 1 45 26 37 N 88 19 02 E 45 4435 N 88 3172 E 45 4435 88 3172 2 509 9536 OpenStreetMap WGS84 B9 Hillclimbing Barnes 2019 9 Eurasia 2 44 17 N 82 11 E 44 29 N 82 19 E 44 29 82 19 2 510 GSHHS 1996 Sphere Adaptive Grid Garcia 2007 1 Eurasia 2 44 19 06 N 82 06 52 E 44 3184 N 82 1144 E 44 3184 82 1144 2 509 9685 GSHHG v2 3 6 L1 WGS84 B9 Hillclimbing Barnes 2019 9 Eurasia 2 44 40 26 N 83 58 10 E 44 6740 N 83 9694 E 44 6740 83 9694 2 505 2134 OpenStreetMap WGS84 B9 Hillclimbing Barnes 2019 9 Great Britain 52 39 N 1 34 W 52 65 N 1 56 W 52 65 1 56 108 GSHHS 1996 Sphere Adaptive Grid Garcia 2007 1 Great Britain 52 00 51 N 0 57 50 W 52 0141 N 0 9640 W 52 0141 0 9640 114 4462 OpenStreetMap WGS84 B9 Hillclimbing Barnes 2019 9 Great Britain 52 39 19 N 1 33 51 W 52 6552 N 1 5641 W 52 6552 1 5641 108 0925 GSHHG v2 3 6 L1 WGS84 B9 Hillclimbing Barnes 2019 9 Greenland 76 30 N 41 00 W 76 50 N 41 0 W 76 50 41 0 469 GSHHS 1996 Sphere Adaptive Grid Garcia 2007 1 Greenland 75 57 58 N 40 25 26 W 75 9660 N 40 4239 W 75 9660 40 4239 471 9905 GSHHG v2 3 6 L1 WGS84 B9 Hillclimbing Barnes 2019 9 Greenland 76 01 50 N 40 23 25 W 76 0305 N 40 3902 W 76 0305 40 3902 474 2257 OpenStreetMap WGS84 B9 Hillclimbing Barnes 2019 9 Indian Ocean 47 37 55 S 99 58 04 E 47 6319 S 99 9677 E 47 6319 99 9677 1 940 8913 OpenStreetMap WGS84 B9 Hillclimbing Barnes 2019 9 Indian Ocean 47 44 05 S 100 03 17 E 47 7347 S 100 0547 E 47 7347 100 0547 1 943 3848 GSHHG L1 WGS84 B9 Hillclimbing Barnes 2019 9 Madagascar 18 20 S 46 40 E 18 33 S 46 67 E 18 33 46 67 260 GSHHS 1996 Sphere Adaptive Grid Garcia 2007 1 Madagascar 18 20 18 S 46 39 59 E 18 3382 S 46 6663 E 18 3382 46 6663 259 5957 GSHHG v2 3 6 L1 WGS84 B9 Hillclimbing Barnes 2019 9 Madagascar 18 15 52 S 46 42 01 E 18 2645 S 46 7003 E 18 2645 46 7003 264 0657 OpenStreetMap WGS84 B9 Hillclimbing Barnes 2019 9 North America 43 28 N 101 58 W 43 46 N 101 97 W 43 46 101 97 1 639 note 2 GSHHS 1996 Sphere Adaptive Grid Garcia 2007 1 North America 43 22 35 N 102 00 40 W 43 3764 N 102 0111 W 43 3764 102 0111 1 639 6549 GSHHG v2 3 6 L1 WGS84 B9 Hillclimbing Barnes 2019 9 North America 43 26 13 N 102 00 36 W 43 4370 N 102 0101 W 43 4370 102 0101 1 643 7562 OpenStreetMap WGS84 B9 Hillclimbing Barnes 2019 9 Pacific Ocean Point Nemo 48 53 S 123 27 W 48 89 S 123 45 W 48 89 123 45 2 690 GSHHS 1996 Sphere Adaptive Grid Garcia 2007 1 Pacific Ocean Point Nemo 49 00 11 S 123 23 31 W 49 0031 S 123 3920 W 49 0031 123 3920 2 701 1721 OpenStreetMap WGS84 B9 Hillclimbing Barnes 2019 9 Pacific Ocean Point Nemo 49 01 38 S 123 26 04 W 49 0273 S 123 4345 W 49 0273 123 4345 2 704 7991 GSHHG v2 3 6 L1 WGS84 B9 Hillclimbing Barnes 2019 9 South America 14 03 S 56 51 W 14 05 S 56 85 W 14 05 56 85 1 517 note 3 GSHHS 1996 Sphere Adaptive Grid Garcia 2007 1 South America 1 14 23 25 S 56 59 32 W 14 3902 S 56 9922 W 14 3902 56 9922 1 490 5321 GSHHG v2 3 6 L1 WGS84 B9 Hillclimbing Barnes 2019 9 South America 1 6 19 29 S 63 11 19 W 6 3248 S 63 1885 W 6 3248 63 1885 1 511 6636 OpenStreetMap WGS84 B9 Hillclimbing Barnes 2019 9 South America 2 10 44 03 S 59 12 45 W 10 7342 S 59 2126 W 10 7342 59 2126 1 467 2206 OpenStreetMap WGS84 B9 Hillclimbing Barnes 2019 9 South America 2 5 03 13 S 65 32 55 W 5 0537 S 65 5487 W 5 0537 65 5487 1 476 4901 GSHHG v2 3 6 L1 WGS84 B9 Hillclimbing Barnes 2019 9 Claimed actually 915 6601 in GSHHG v2 3 6 9 Claimed actually 1629 7740 in GSHHG v2 3 6 9 Claimed actually 1449 9471 in GSHHG v2 3 6 9 ArcGIS personnel wrote a 2015 page with their calculations based on a flat Earth The results are too inaccurate to be included here 9 See also editAntipodes Pole of Inaccessibility research station Geographical pole Extremes on Earth Land and water hemispheres Geographical centre List of mainland settlements that are inaccessible by roadReferences edit a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Garcia Castellanos Daniel Lombardo Umberto September 2007 Poles of inaccessibility A calculation algorithm for the remotest places on earth PDF Scottish Geographical Journal 123 3 227 233 doi 10 1080 14702540801897809 S2CID 55876083 Archived from the original PDF on 29 June 2014 Retrieved 10 November 2016 a b c d e Rees Gareth Headland Robert Scambos Ted Haran Terry 2014 Finding the Arctic pole of inaccessibility Polar Record 50 86 91 doi 10 1017 S003224741300051X S2CID 140637055 Explorer set for historic Arctic adventure BBC 20 February 2006 Archived from the original on 27 May 2006 Retrieved 10 November 2010 Becker Kraig 10 February 2010 North Pole 2010 Expedition To The Pole of Inaccessibility is Postponed theadventureblog blogspot com The Adventure Blog Archived from the original on 13 October 2016 Retrieved 10 November 2016 Duhaime Ross Arielle 15 October 2013 A New Race to Earth s End Scientific American 309 16 16 doi 10 1038 scientificamerican1113 16a PMID 24283006 a b Danilov A I 1994 Catalogue of Russian Antarctic Meteorological data 1994 wmo int World Meteorological Organization Archived from the original on 13 May 2016 Retrieved 10 November 2016 Historic Sites amp Monuments in Antarctica polarheritage com International Polar Heritage Committee 2016 Archived from the original on 29 September 2007 Retrieved 10 November 2016 Headland R K 1996 Polar Information Sheets spri cam ac uk Scott Polar Research Institute University of Cambridge Archived from the original on 28 May 2016 Retrieved 10 November 2016 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an Barnes Richard 2019 Optimal orientations of discrete global grids and the Poles of Inaccessibility International Journal of Digital Earth 13 7 803 816 doi 10 1080 17538947 2019 1576786 S2CID 134622203 a b c d e Rees Gareth Gerrish Laura Fox Adrian Barnes Richard 2021 Finding Antarctica s Pole of Inaccessibility Polar Record 57 e40 1 6 doi 10 1017 S0032247421000620 S2CID 239011407 Spaniards reach the second South Pole of Inaccessibility still no trace of Lenin explorersweb com ThePoles com 15 December 2005 Archived from the original on 14 April 2016 Retrieved 10 November 2016 Polar News ExplorersWeb Spaniards reach South Pole of Inaccessibility but where is Lenin explorersweb com ThePoles com 12 December 2012 Archived from the original on 21 March 2008 Retrieved 10 November 2016 Reached the South Pole of Inaccessibility Barrabes com 13 December 2005 Archived from the original on 10 November 2016 Retrieved 10 November 2016 The South Pole of Inaccessibility tierraspolares es Tierras Polares Archived from the original on 11 January 2009 Retrieved 10 November 2016 Team N2i successfully conquer the Pole of Inaccessibility by foot and kite on 19th Jan 07 Archived from the original on 16 August 2011 Retrieved 16 August 2011 a b UK team makes polar trek history news bbc co uk BBC News 20 January 2007 Archived from the original on 22 November 2016 Retrieved 10 November 2016 Polar News ExplorersWeb ExWeb interview Sebastian Copeland and Eric McNair Landry part 1 2 The battle of body and gear across 2 South Poles Explorersweb com ExWeb 5 March 2012 Archived from the original on 29 May 2016 Retrieved 10 November 2016 Image guinness book records team n2i antarctic ec1 jpg 539 791 px teamn2i com Guinness World Records 19 January 2007 Archived from the original on 14 May 2016 Retrieved 10 November 2016 a b c d Where is Point Nemo National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Retrieved 1 January 2023 a b c Lukatela Hrvoje September 2022 Point Nemo revisited lukatela com a b c d Davies Ella 5 October 2016 The Place Furthest from Land is Known as Point Nemo BBC Retrieved 24 July 2019 a b Point Nemo is the most remote oceanic spot yet it s still awash with plastic The Guardian 18 May 2018 Retrieved 24 July 2019 Tan Arjun 2021 Determining the Areas and Geographical Centers of Pacific Ocean and its Northern and Southern Halves International Journal of Oceans and Oceanography Research India Publications p 25 31 ISSN 0973 2667 Retrieved 18 July 2022 Lukatela Hrvoje 2022 Point Nemo lukatela com Stirone Shannon 13 June 2016 This Is Where the International Space Station Will Go to Die Popular Science Archived from the original on 16 June 2016 Retrieved 10 November 2016 International Space Station to crash down to Earth in January 2031 BBC News 3 February 2022 Retrieved 3 February 2022 Bock Michael 11 February 2022 FAQ The International Space Station 2022 Transition Plan NASA 43 40 52 N 87 19 52 E Geographic Center of Asia The Heart of Asia 亚洲之心 Xinjiang 新疆 China confluence org Confluence 22 June 2006 Archived from the original on 2 June 2016 Retrieved 10 November 2016 Henderson Kyle 13 July 2021 Marking the North American Pole of Inaccessibility Archived from the original on 13 July 2021 Paterson Rosie 30 October 2017 The Turner Twins on trekking to the Green Pole avoiding disaster and fields of plastic stretching for miles Country Life Archived from the original on 10 January 2018 Wessel Paul Walter Smith 2016 A Global Self consistent Hierarchical High resolution Geography Database Centre of Australia States and Territories ga gov au Geoscience Australia 15 May 2014 Archived from the original on 31 October 2016 Retrieved 10 November 2016 External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pole of inaccessibility Map all coordinates using OpenStreetMap Download coordinates as KML GPX all coordinates GPX primary coordinates GPX secondary coordinates How to calculate PIAs Team N2i successfully conquer the Pole of Inaccessibility by foot and kite on 19th Jan 07 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Pole of inaccessibility amp oldid 1216450483 Continental poles of inaccessibility, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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