The 37th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 37 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Europe, the Mediterranean Sea, Africa, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America, and the Atlantic Ocean.

Line across the Earth
37°
37th parallel north

At this latitude the Sun is visible for 14 hours, 42 minutes during the summer solstice and 9 hours, 37 minutes during the winter solstice.[1]

The 37th parallel north is roughly the northern limit of the visibility of Canopus, the second-brightest star of the night sky. Along with the 37th parallel south, it is the latitude at which solar irradiance is closest to the planetary average,[2] with higher solar irradiance equatorward and lower poleward.

Around the world edit

Starting at the Prime Meridian and heading eastward, the parallel 37° north passes through:

Co-ordinates Country, territory or sea Notes
37°0′N 0°0′E / 37.000°N 0.000°E / 37.000; 0.000 (Prime Meridian) Mediterranean Sea
37°0′N 6°15′E / 37.000°N 6.250°E / 37.000; 6.250 (Algeria)   Algeria
37°0′N 6°34′E / 37.000°N 6.567°E / 37.000; 6.567 (Mediterranean Sea) Mediterranean Sea
37°0′N 7°15′E / 37.000°N 7.250°E / 37.000; 7.250 (Algeria)   Algeria
37°0′N 7°33′E / 37.000°N 7.550°E / 37.000; 7.550 (Mediterranean Sea) Mediterranean Sea
37°0′N 8°52′E / 37.000°N 8.867°E / 37.000; 8.867 (Tunisia)   Tunisia
37°0′N 10°11′E / 37.000°N 10.183°E / 37.000; 10.183 (Mediterranean Sea) Mediterranean Sea Gulf of Tunis
37°0′N 10°53′E / 37.000°N 10.883°E / 37.000; 10.883 (Tunisia)   Tunisia Cap Bon
37°0′N 11°4′E / 37.000°N 11.067°E / 37.000; 11.067 (Mediterranean Sea) Mediterranean Sea Strait of Sicily, passing just north of the island of Pantelleria,   Italy
37°0′N 14°20′E / 37.000°N 14.333°E / 37.000; 14.333 (Italy)   Italy Island of Sicily
Province of Ragusa
Province of Siracusa
37°0′N 15°16′E / 37.000°N 15.267°E / 37.000; 15.267 (Ionian Sea) Ionian Sea
37°0′N 21°39′E / 37.000°N 21.650°E / 37.000; 21.650 (Greece)   Greece Peloponnese (Messenia)
37°0′N 21°57′E / 37.000°N 21.950°E / 37.000; 21.950 (Ionian Sea) Ionian Sea Messenian Gulf
37°0′N 22°09′E / 37.000°N 22.150°E / 37.000; 22.150 (Greece)   Greece Peloponnese
Messenia
Laconia
37°0′N 23°0′E / 37.000°N 23.000°E / 37.000; 23.000 (Aegean Sea) Aegean Sea Myrtoan Sea
37°0′N 24°40′E / 37.000°N 24.667°E / 37.000; 24.667 (Greece)   Greece Island of Sifnos
37°0′N 24°44′E / 37.000°N 24.733°E / 37.000; 24.733 (Aegean Sea) Aegean Sea
37°0′N 25°1′E / 37.000°N 25.017°E / 37.000; 25.017 (Greece)   Greece Islands of Antiparos and Paros
37°0′N 25°13′E / 37.000°N 25.217°E / 37.000; 25.217 (Aegean Sea) Aegean Sea
37°0′N 25°23′E / 37.000°N 25.383°E / 37.000; 25.383 (Greece)   Greece Island of Naxos
37°0′N 25°34′E / 37.000°N 25.567°E / 37.000; 25.567 (Aegean Sea) Aegean Sea
37°0′N 26°26′E / 37.000°N 26.433°E / 37.000; 26.433 (Greece)   Greece Island of Levitha
37°0′N 26°30′E / 37.000°N 26.500°E / 37.000; 26.500 (Aegean Sea) Aegean Sea
37°0′N 26°55′E / 37.000°N 26.917°E / 37.000; 26.917 (Greece)   Greece Island of Kalymnos
37°0′N 27°3′E / 37.000°N 27.050°E / 37.000; 27.050 (Aegean Sea) Aegean Sea
37°0′N 27°15′E / 37.000°N 27.250°E / 37.000; 27.250 (Turkey)   Turkey
37°0′N 27°47′E / 37.000°N 27.783°E / 37.000; 27.783 (Aegean Sea) Aegean Sea
37°0′N 28°13′E / 37.000°N 28.217°E / 37.000; 28.217 (Turkey)   Turkey Passing through Adana and Nizip
37°0′N 40°25′E / 37.000°N 40.417°E / 37.000; 40.417 (Syria)   Syria
37°0′N 42°18′E / 37.000°N 42.300°E / 37.000; 42.300 (Iraq)   Iraq
37°0′N 44°16′E / 37.000°N 44.267°E / 37.000; 44.267 (Turkey)   Turkey Şemdinli district (for about 7 km (4.3 mi))
37°0′N 44°20′E / 37.000°N 44.333°E / 37.000; 44.333 (Iraq)   Iraq
37°0′N 44°54′E / 37.000°N 44.900°E / 37.000; 44.900 (Iran)   Iran
37°0′N 50°32′E / 37.000°N 50.533°E / 37.000; 50.533 (Caspian Sea) Caspian Sea
37°0′N 54°0′E / 37.000°N 54.000°E / 37.000; 54.000 (Iran)   Iran
37°0′N 60°3′E / 37.000°N 60.050°E / 37.000; 60.050 (Turkmenistan)   Turkmenistan
37°0′N 64°47′E / 37.000°N 64.783°E / 37.000; 64.783 (Afghanistan)   Afghanistan
37°0′N 67°56′E / 37.000°N 67.933°E / 37.000; 67.933 (Tajikistan)   Tajikistan
37°0′N 68°10′E / 37.000°N 68.167°E / 37.000; 68.167 (Afghanistan)   Afghanistan
37°0′N 71°28′E / 37.000°N 71.467°E / 37.000; 71.467 (Tajikistan)   Tajikistan
37°0′N 72°28′E / 37.000°N 72.467°E / 37.000; 72.467 (Afghanistan)   Afghanistan
37°0′N 74°34′E / 37.000°N 74.567°E / 37.000; 74.567 (Pakistan)   Pakistan Gilgit-Baltistan - claimed by   India
37°0′N 74°50′E / 37.000°N 74.833°E / 37.000; 74.833 (China)   People's Republic of China Xinjiang - for about 14 km (8.7 mi)
37°0′N 75°0′E / 37.000°N 75.000°E / 37.000; 75.000 (Pakistan)   Pakistan Gilgit-Baltistan - for about 14 km (8.7 mi), claimed by   India
37°0′N 75°9′E / 37.000°N 75.150°E / 37.000; 75.150 (China)   People's Republic of China Xinjiang
Qinghai
Gansu
Ningxia
Gansu
Shaanxi
Shanxi
Hebei
Shandong
37°0′N 122°32′E / 37.000°N 122.533°E / 37.000; 122.533 (Yellow Sea) Yellow Sea Asan Bay
37°0′N 126°20′E / 37.000°N 126.333°E / 37.000; 126.333 (South Korea)   South Korea South Chungcheong Province
Gyeonggi Province - passing through Pyeongtaek, Anseong
North Chungcheong Province - passing just north of Chungju
North Gyeongsang Province
37°0′N 129°25′E / 37.000°N 129.417°E / 37.000; 129.417 (Sea of Japan) Sea of Japan
37°0′N 136°46′E / 37.000°N 136.767°E / 37.000; 136.767 (Japan)   Japan Island of Honshū:
Ishikawa Prefecture
37°0′N 137°3′E / 37.000°N 137.050°E / 37.000; 137.050 (Sea of Japan) Sea of Japan Toyama Bay
37°0′N 137°42′E / 37.000°N 137.700°E / 37.000; 137.700 (Japan)   Japan Island of Honshū:
Niigata Prefecture
Nagano Prefecture
— Niigata Prefecture
Gunma Prefecture − for around 10 km (6.2 mi)
— Niigata Prefecture − for around 7 km (4.3 mi)
Fukushima Prefecture
Tochigi Prefecture
Ibaraki Prefecture
— Fukushima Prefecture
37°0′N 140°59′E / 37.000°N 140.983°E / 37.000; 140.983 (Pacific Ocean) Pacific Ocean
37°0′N 122°11′W / 37.000°N 122.183°W / 37.000; -122.183 (United States)   United States California - landfall at Bonny Doon Beach just north of Santa Cruz
Nevada
Utah / Arizona border
Colorado / New Mexico border
Colorado / Oklahoma border
Kansas / Oklahoma border
Missouri
Illinois (at its southernmost point)
Kentucky - passing through Bowling Green and just south of Paducah
Virginia - passing through Chesapeake Bay Bridge–Tunnel (specifically, the bridge between the two tunnels)
37°0′N 76°18′W / 37.000°N 76.300°W / 37.000; -76.300 (Atlantic Ocean) Atlantic Ocean
37°0′N 25°10′W / 37.000°N 25.167°W / 37.000; -25.167 (Portugal)   Portugal Santa Maria Island in the Azores
37°0′N 25°3′W / 37.000°N 25.050°W / 37.000; -25.050 (Atlantic Ocean) Atlantic Ocean
37°0′N 8°57′W / 37.000°N 8.950°W / 37.000; -8.950 (Portugal)   Portugal Sagres Point
37°0′N 8°56′W / 37.000°N 8.933°W / 37.000; -8.933 (Atlantic Ocean) Atlantic Ocean
37°0′N 7°59′W / 37.000°N 7.983°W / 37.000; -7.983 (Portugal)   Portugal Cape Santa Maria
37°0′N 7°50′W / 37.000°N 7.833°W / 37.000; -7.833 (Atlantic Ocean) Atlantic Ocean Gulf of Cádiz
37°0′N 5°56′W / 37.000°N 5.933°W / 37.000; -5.933 (Spain)   Spain Passing just north of Las Cabezas de San Juan
37°0′N 6°32′W / 37.000°N 6.533°W / 37.000; -6.533 (Spain)   Spain Passing just south of Antequera
37°0′N 1°53′W / 37.000°N 1.883°W / 37.000; -1.883 (Mediterranean Sea) Mediterranean Sea

United States edit

 
The 37th parallel defining borders between states in the United States.

In the United States, the parallel defines the southern borders of Utah, Colorado, and Kansas, and the northern borders of Arizona, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. It dates to the Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854 when Congress divided Unorganized Territory into Kansas and Nebraska north of the 37th parallel and a remainder Indian Territory to the south. Before that, the line had been thought to be the boundary between the Cherokee and Osage reservations – the 2.46 miles (3.96 km) discrepancy resulting in the creation of the Cherokee Strip. Congress extended the line west to New Mexico Territory, thus defining which states and territories would constitute The South between the Colorado and Mississippi Rivers, and creating what later became the Oklahoma Panhandle.[3]

Landmarks on the 37th parallel include Santa Cruz, California; Gilroy, California; Madera, California; Ubehebe Crater in Death Valley; Colorado City, Arizona; the Four Corners at the intersection with the 32nd meridian west from Washington (the only place where four U.S. states meet at a point); Cairo, Illinois; Bowling Green, Kentucky; and Newport News, and Hampton, Virginia. It enters the Chesapeake Bay at the northernmost tunnel entrance / exit of the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel and the southernmost point of Old Point Comfort on the former Army base, Ft. Monroe.

The parallel 37° north formed the southern boundary of the historic and extralegal Territory of Jefferson.

See also edit

References edit

  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. ^ See Nadeau, Alice and McGhee, Richard; ‘A simple formula for a planet's mean annual insolation by latitude’; Icarus, volume 291, 15 July 2017, pp. 46-50
  3. ^ Hubbard, Bill (2009). American Boundaries: The Nation, the States, the Rectangular Survey. University of Chicago Press. p. 158. ISBN 978-0-226-35591-7. Retrieved 27 September 2012.