Battle of Round Mountain

Line across the Earth
50°
50th parallel north

The 50th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 50 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Europe, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America, and the Atlantic Ocean.

At this latitude the sun is visible for 16 hours, 22 minutes during the summer solstice and 8 hours, 4 minutes during the winter solstice.[1] The maximum altitude of the sun during the summer solstice is 63.44 degrees and during the winter solstice it is 16.56 degrees. During the summer solstice, nighttime does not get beyond astronomical twilight, a condition which lasts throughout the month of June. It is possible to view both astronomical dawn and dusk every day of the month of May.[2]

At this latitude, the average sea surface temperature between 1982 and 2011 was about 8.5 °C (47.3 °F).[3]

Around the world

A sculpture at the Rhein-Main Regional Park (de) in Germany showing Mainz and other cities around the world that lie along the 50th parallel north (distances not to scale)
50th latitude mark in central Mainz, Germany
A plaque marking the 50th parallel north in Kharkiv, Ukraine
50th parallel marker next to the Old Island Highway in Campbell River, British Columbia, Canada

Starting at the Prime Meridian and heading eastwards, the parallel 50° north passes through:

Co-ordinates Country, territory or sea Notes
50°0′N 0°0′E / 50.000°N 0.000°E / 50.000; 0.000 (Prime Meridian) English Channel
50°0′N 1°15′E / 50.000°N 1.250°E / 50.000; 1.250 (France)  France Upper Normandy — for about 20 km
Picardy — passing just north of Amiens
Nord-Pas-de-Calais — for about 13 km
50°0′N 4°10′E / 50.000°N 4.167°E / 50.000; 4.167 (Belgium)  Belgium Wallonia
50°0′N 4°40′E / 50.000°N 4.667°E / 50.000; 4.667 (France)  France Champagne-Ardenne — for about 10 km
50°0′N 4°49′E / 50.000°N 4.817°E / 50.000; 4.817 (Belgium)  Belgium Wallonia
50°0′N 5°49′E / 50.000°N 5.817°E / 50.000; 5.817 (Luxembourg)  Luxembourg Diekirch District
50°0′N 6°9′E / 50.000°N 6.150°E / 50.000; 6.150 (Germany)  Germany Rhineland-Palatinate
Hesse
Rhineland-Palatinate — passing through Mainz city centre
Hesse — passing just south of Frankfurt, crossing a runway of FRA international airport and passing just south of DCF77 time signal transmitter
Bavaria — passing just north of Bayreuth
50°0′N 12°26′E / 50.000°N 12.433°E / 50.000; 12.433 (Czech Republic)  Czech Republic Passing through southern parts of Prague
50°0′N 17°49′E / 50.000°N 17.817°E / 50.000; 17.817 (Poland)  Poland For about 11 km
50°0′N 17°58′E / 50.000°N 17.967°E / 50.000; 17.967 (Czech Republic)  Czech Republic For about 10 km
50°0′N 18°7′E / 50.000°N 18.117°E / 50.000; 18.117 (Poland)  Poland Passing through southern districts of Kraków (on the 20th meridian east)
Passing through southern districts of Tarnów (on the 21st meridian east)
Passing through southern districts of Rzeszów (on the 22nd meridian east)
50°0′N 23°10′E / 50.000°N 23.167°E / 50.000; 23.167 (Ukraine)  Ukraine Lviv Oblast — passing just north of Lviv
Ternopil Oblast — passing through Pochaiv
Khmelnytskyi Oblast
Zhytomyr Oblast — passing through Andrushivka
Kyiv Oblast
Cherkasy Oblast
Poltava Oblast — passing through Lubny
Kharkiv Oblast — passing through Kharkiv city centre
50°0′N 37°57′E / 50.000°N 37.950°E / 50.000; 37.950 (Russia)  Russia Belgorod Oblast — for about 18 km
50°0′N 38°12′E / 50.000°N 38.200°E / 50.000; 38.200 (Ukraine)  Ukraine Luhansk Oblast — for about 12 km
50°0′N 38°22′E / 50.000°N 38.367°E / 50.000; 38.367 (Russia)  Russia Belgorod Oblast
Voronezh Oblast — passing just north of Boguchar
Rostov Oblast
Volgograd Oblast — passing just south of Kamyshin
50°0′N 47°15′E / 50.000°N 47.250°E / 50.000; 47.250 (Kazakhstan)  Kazakhstan West Kazakhstan Province
50°0′N 48°8′E / 50.000°N 48.133°E / 50.000; 48.133 (Russia)  Russia Saratov Oblast
50°0′N 48°51′E / 50.000°N 48.850°E / 50.000; 48.850 (Kazakhstan)  Kazakhstan West Kazakhstan Province
Aktobe Province
Kostanay Province
Karagandy Province — passing just north of Karaganda
East Kazakhstan Province — passing just north of Oskemen
50°0′N 85°2′E / 50.000°N 85.033°E / 50.000; 85.033 (Russia)  Russia Altai Republic
Tuva
50°0′N 89°58′E / 50.000°N 89.967°E / 50.000; 89.967 (Mongolia)  Mongolia Passing through the southern tip of Uvs Lake
50°0′N 95°1′E / 50.000°N 95.017°E / 50.000; 95.017 (Russia)  Russia Tuva
50°0′N 95°45′E / 50.000°N 95.750°E / 50.000; 95.750 (Mongolia)  Mongolia For about 11 km
50°0′N 95°55′E / 50.000°N 95.917°E / 50.000; 95.917 (Russia)  Russia Tuva — for about 7 km
50°0′N 96°2′E / 50.000°N 96.033°E / 50.000; 96.033 (Mongolia)  Mongolia For about 11 km
50°0′N 96°10′E / 50.000°N 96.167°E / 50.000; 96.167 (Russia)  Russia Tuva
50°0′N 97°55′E / 50.000°N 97.917°E / 50.000; 97.917 (Mongolia)  Mongolia
50°0′N 107°13′E / 50.000°N 107.217°E / 50.000; 107.217 (Russia)  Russia Buryatia — for about 5 km
50°0′N 107°18′E / 50.000°N 107.300°E / 50.000; 107.300 (Mongolia)  Mongolia For about 3 km
50°0′N 107°20′E / 50.000°N 107.333°E / 50.000; 107.333 (Russia)  Russia Buryatia
Zabaykalsky Krai
50°0′N 113°34′E / 50.000°N 113.567°E / 50.000; 113.567 (Mongolia)  Mongolia
50°0′N 115°12′E / 50.000°N 115.200°E / 50.000; 115.200 (Russia)  Russia Zabaykalsky Krai
50°0′N 116°1′E / 50.000°N 116.017°E / 50.000; 116.017 (Mongolia)  Mongolia
50°0′N 116°20′E / 50.000°N 116.333°E / 50.000; 116.333 (Russia)  Russia Zabaykalsky Krai
50°0′N 119°6′E / 50.000°N 119.100°E / 50.000; 119.100 (China)  People's Republic of China Inner Mongolia
Heilongjiang
50°0′N 127°29′E / 50.000°N 127.483°E / 50.000; 127.483 (Russia)  Russia Amur Oblast
Khabarovsk Krai
50°0′N 140°30′E / 50.000°N 140.500°E / 50.000; 140.500 (Strait of Tartary) Strait of Tartary
50°0′N 142°9′E / 50.000°N 142.150°E / 50.000; 142.150 (Russia)  Russia Sakhalin Oblast — island of Sakhalin
50°0′N 143°59′E / 50.000°N 143.983°E / 50.000; 143.983 (Sea of Okhotsk) Sea of Okhotsk
50°0′N 155°23′E / 50.000°N 155.383°E / 50.000; 155.383 (Russia)  Russia Sakhalin Oblast — island of Paramushir
50°0′N 155°24′E / 50.000°N 155.400°E / 50.000; 155.400 (Pacific Ocean) Pacific Ocean
50°0′N 127°19′W / 50.000°N 127.317°W / 50.000; -127.317 (Canada)  Canada British ColumbiaVancouver Island (passing through the town of Campbell River) and mainland, also through the Okanagan Valley immediately north of Kelowna.
Alberta — passing through the city of Medicine Hat
Saskatchewan it passes a few km south of the cities of Swift Current, Moose Jaw and the capital, Regina
Manitoba — passing just north of Winnipeg
Ontario — passing through Lake Nipigon
Quebec - passing through the town of Port-Cartier
50°0′N 66°54′W / 50.000°N 66.900°W / 50.000; -66.900 (Gulf of Saint Lawrence) Gulf of Saint Lawrence Passing just north of Anticosti Island, Quebec,  Canada
50°0′N 57°45′W / 50.000°N 57.750°W / 50.000; -57.750 (Canada)  Canada Newfoundland and Labrador — island of Newfoundland
50°0′N 56°46′W / 50.000°N 56.767°W / 50.000; -56.767 (White Bay) White Bay
50°0′N 56°21′W / 50.000°N 56.350°W / 50.000; -56.350 (Canada)  Canada Newfoundland and Labrador — island of Newfoundland
50°0′N 55°52′W / 50.000°N 55.867°W / 50.000; -55.867 (Atlantic Ocean) Atlantic Ocean Confusion Bay
50°0′N 55°33′W / 50.000°N 55.550°W / 50.000; -55.550 (Canada)  Canada Newfoundland and Labrador — island of Newfoundland
50°0′N 55°31′W / 50.000°N 55.517°W / 50.000; -55.517 (Atlantic Ocean) Atlantic Ocean Passing just north of the Isles of Scilly, England,  United Kingdom
50°0′N 5°16′W / 50.000°N 5.267°W / 50.000; -5.267 (United Kingdom)  United Kingdom EnglandLizard Peninsula, Cornwall, for about 7 km
50°0′N 5°10′W / 50.000°N 5.167°W / 50.000; -5.167 (English Channel) English Channel

Sakhalin island

Sakhalin island between 1905 and 1945. The area south of the 50th parallel line was under Japanese control

From the signing of the 1875 Treaty of Saint Petersburg until the Russo-Japanese War which broke in 1904, the Russian Empire had full control of Sakhalin island. As a result of the 1905 Treaty of Portsmouth that brought an end to the Russo-Japanese War, the portion of the island south of the 50th parallel line became Japanese territory, part of Karafuto Prefecture. However, following the month long Soviet–Japanese War during the summer of 1945, the entire island was reunified under Soviet control.[4]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Duration of Daylight/Darkness Table for One Year". U.S. Naval Observatory. 2019-09-24. Archived from the original on 2019-10-12. Retrieved 2021-03-10.
  2. ^ "Earth-Sun geometry - The Encyclopedia of Earth". www.eoearth.org.
  3. ^ "Zonal Mean Sea Surface Temperatures (5 deg Latitude Bands) Average of Jan 1982 to Dec 2011". Retrieved July 7, 2022.
  4. ^ Sevela, Mariya. "Sakhalin: the Japanese Under Soviet Rule". History Today. Retrieved 10 May 2014.

External links