What ocean contains the spot where 0° latitude meets 0° longitude?

Zero degrees latitude is the line designating the Equator and divides the Earth into two equal hemispheres (north and south). Zero degrees longitude is an imaginary line known as the Prime Meridian. Therefore, we are looking for what exists at the location where the Equator and the Prime Meridian cross each other.

If you look at the intersection of 0 degrees latitude (known as the Equator) and 0 degrees longitude (known as the Prime Meridian) on a map, you will see that the confluence falls in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, in the Gulf of Guinea off the coast of western Africa.

There is a fictional island known as null island at zero latitude and zero longitude that can be found in the public domain Natural Earth GIS data. This one square meter area island is used for troubleshooting purposes for flagging geocoding failures.

More Info: www.geolounge.com

Test your knowledge

What are your thoughts on this subject?

13 Comments

Paul Chalk

After long and careful thought, I got it wrong.

Jas Newman

Jim Laughner, So you think the equator does not cross the Indian Ocean?

Jas Newman

Mark Yakabuski, This is true only if you judge Ireland to be a Western-hemisphere nation. Many geographers define the E/W hemispheric boundaries as the 20-degrees west line of longitude and the 160-degree east line of longitude.

Robert Oldenburg

Last week my wife and I visited the 45n 90w site in northwestern Wisconsin. It’s in the middle of a corn field. It’s the only one accessible, the two southern ones are in the middle of the ocean and the north east one is in mountainous inaccessible area of western China or Mongolia.

Carroll Price

Excellent trivia question and explanation.

Mark Yakabuski

Africa is the only continent that lies in all 4 hemispheres. The Prime Meridan crosses the Equator just south of Ghana.

Joris van Pelt

that would be than 90.0000° S, 45.0000° E

Alan Waites

Darrin Bailey, cos it's 0 - 0, ie North Pole, but as that isn't an ocean, I moved down the line to the equator, making the others illogical, although when I clicked the Atlantic I was expecting it to be wrong.

Richard D. Boyle

Easy for anyone with military background.

Emy Ngan

Missed the right answer

Jim Laughner

Jim Laughner, The "Time Zone" line I referenced in my original reply is properly called the "International Date line" which is in the Pacific Ocean. That does not designate Where "Greenwich Mean Time" is calculated, but I figured it must be 0° longitude. (Just a lucky guess on my part).

Jim Laughner

I first thought Pacific but then realized that the time zone "line" has nothing to do with longitude, which should be, (in my thinking), in line with Greenwich mean time and although I don't know exactly where that is I do know in general that it's in Europe so that excludes the Pacific Ocean. 0° latitude is the equator so that excludes Arctic and Indian. That leaves only one logical place, the Atlantic Ocean. Shazam! Thinking before I answered actually paid off this time.