40th parallel north

The 40th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 40 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Europe, the Mediterranean Sea, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America, and the Atlantic Ocean.

40°
40th parallel north

At this latitude the sun is visible for 15 hours, 1 minute during the summer solstice and 9 hours, 20 minutes during the winter solstice.[1] On 21 June, the maximum altitude of the sun is 73.44 degrees, while it's 26.56 degrees on 21 December.

The maximum altitude of the Sun is > 35.00º in October and > 28.00º in November.

Around the world

Starting in Spain at the Prime Meridian and heading eastwards, the parallel 40° north passes through:

Co-ordinates Country, territory or sea Notes
40°0′N 0°0′E  Spain Valencian Community
40°0′N 0°2′E Mediterranean Sea Passing just north of the island of Majorca,  Spain
40°0′N 3°48′E  Spain Island of Menorca
40°0′N 4°13′E Mediterranean Sea
40°0′N 8°24′E  Italy Island of Sardinia
40°0′N 9°42′E Mediterranean Sea Tyrrhenian Sea
40°0′N 15°20′E  Italy Campania
40°0′N 15°26′E Mediterranean Sea Gulf of Policastro
40°0′N 15°41′E  Italy Basilicata, Calabria
40°0′N 16°37′E Mediterranean Sea Gulf of Taranto
40°0′N 18°0′E  Italy Apulia
40°0′N 18°25′E Mediterranean Sea Strait of Otranto
40°0′N 19°53′E  Albania Passing just north of Sarandë and just south of Gjirokastër
40°0′N 20°23′E  Greece
40°0′N 22°37′E Mediterranean Sea Aegean Sea
40°0′N 23°23′E  Greece Kassandra and Sithonia
40°0′N 24°0′E Mediterranean Sea Aegean Sea
40°0′N 25°6′E  Greece Island of Lemnos
40°0′N 25°26′E Mediterranean Sea Aegean Sea
40°0′N 26°11′E  Turkey Passing just north of Ankara
40°0′N 44°24′E  Armenia Passing through Verin Artashat and Norashen, Ararat
40°0′N 45°36′E  Azerbaijan Passing through Nagorno-Karabakh
40°0′N 49°27′E Caspian Sea
40°0′N 52°46′E  Turkmenistan
40°0′N 62°26′E  Uzbekistan
40°0′N 68°48′E  Tajikistan
40°0′N 69°31′E  Kyrgyzstan
40°0′N 70°32′E  Tajikistan For about 9 km (5.6 mi)
40°0′N 70°39′E  Kyrgyzstan
40°0′N 71°5′E  Uzbekistan Sokh exclave - for about 7 km (4.3 mi)
40°0′N 71°10′E  Kyrgyzstan
40°0′N 71°48′E  Uzbekistan Shohimardon exclave - for about 4 km (2.5 mi)
40°0′N 71°50′E  Kyrgyzstan
40°0′N 73°58′E  China Xinjiang
Gansu
Inner Mongolia
Shanxi
Hebei
Beijing (passing just north of the city centre)
Hebei
Tianjin
Hebei
Liaoning (for about 8 km (5.0 mi))
40°0′N 119°54′E Pacific Ocean Liaodong Bay, Yellow Sea
40°0′N 121°53′E  China Liaoning (Liaodong Peninsula)
40°0′N 124°21′E  North Korea North Pyeongan Province - Passing through Sinuiju
Jagang Province
South Hamgyeong Province - Passing just north of Hamheung
40°0′N 127°57′E Pacific Ocean Sea of Japan
40°0′N 128°10′E  North Korea Mayang Island
40°0′N 128°13′E Pacific Ocean Sea of Japan
40°0′N 139°54′E  Japan Island of Honshū
Akita Prefecture
Iwate Prefecture
40°0′N 141°57′E Pacific Ocean
40°0′N 124°1′W  United States California - passing 2.35 km (1.46 mi) south of Shelter Cove
Nevada
Utah
Colorado - passing through Boulder
Nebraska / Kansas border
Missouri
Illinois
Indiana
Ohio - passing through Columbus
West Virginia
Pennsylvania - passing through Philadelphia
New Jersey - passing through Toms River
40°0′N 31°7′W Atlantic Ocean Passing just north of Corvo Island, Azores,  Portugal
40°0′N 8°55′W  Portugal Passing near Figueira da Foz and Coimbra
40°0′N 6°51′W  Spain Extremadura
Castile-La Mancha
Community of Madrid - for about 10 km (6.2 mi)
Castile-La Mancha
Valencian Community - Rincón de Ademuz exclave, for about 4 km (2.5 mi)
Castile-La Mancha - for about 5 km (3.1 mi)
Aragon
Valencian Community

United States

The 40th parallel defines the state line between Nebraska and Kansas
Survey marker on the Kansas/Nebraska state line

The parallel 40° north forms the boundary between the states of Kansas and Nebraska. On 30 May 1854, the Kansas–Nebraska Act created the Territory of Kansas and the Territory of Nebraska divided by the parallel 40° north. Both territories were required to determine for themselves whether to permit slavery. Open conflict between free-state and pro-slavery forces in the Kansas Territory was one of the root causes of the American Civil War.

The parallel 40° north formed the original northern boundary of the British Colony of Maryland. A subsequent royal grant gave the Colony of Pennsylvania land north of the 40th parallel but mistakenly assumed it would intersect the Twelve Mile Circle, which it does not. Pennsylvania's border was thus unclear and the colony pushed for a border far south of the 40th parallel. The Mason–Dixon Line was drawn between 1763 and 1767 as the compromise boundary between the overlapping claims of these two colonies.

40th parallel marker at The Ohio State University (Columbus, Ohio)

The parallel 40° north passes through the cities of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Columbus, Ohio; as well as northern suburbs of Indianapolis, Indiana and Boulder, Colorado and the southern suburbs of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The parallel goes directly through the John Glenn Columbus International Airport, with runway 10L-28R lying immediately north of the line, runway 10R-28L lying slightly south of it, and the line going through the northernmost edges of the terminal. It also passes through the main campus of The Ohio State University; specifically, it cuts directly across the Oval greenspace, between University Hall and the William Oxley Thompson Memorial Library. Ohio Stadium, one of the largest stadiums in the world, barely misses the parallel 40° north (6 seconds above 40° north).

Baseline Road in Boulder, Colorado, traces the parallel 40° north.

Thistle, Utah, a ghost town since 1983, is slightly (30 seconds) below 40° north.

Japan

See also

References

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