I've been looking at a map of Antarctica (just don't ask why). It is split into 2 regions, East and West Antarctica. How the hell does that work?

If you go West far enough you end up in East Antarctica, and vice-versa...

...my brain hurts.



David

[Edited on 9/5/06 by David Jenkins]

Sounds a bit strange to me, it would be logical to seperate it by drawing a line through the south pole, problem is, if your standing on the south pole, every direction is north.

Anywhere in the world, if you go east enough you end up west. Just that in antarctica you could do it in a few steps! The prime meridian where east and west are measured from is the good old Grenwich meridian! So 180 degrees round the world from there is where east suddenly becomes west and vice versa. This is the international date line incidentally (although this tends to meander slightly from the 180 degree meridian to weave around various islands/international territories).

Liam

But that answer is just too boring!

Its all to do with time. At one pole time speeds up due to the concentration of French men and at the other it slows down due to the lack of Burger Kings. Its all very technical.

If you're at the south pole looking towards China then you're looling east. Look towards argentina and you're looking west, I guess. Don't ask me what happens if you look towards London.

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Originally posted by David Jenkins
But that answer is just too boring!

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quote:

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Originally posted by smart51
If you're at the south pole looking towards China then you're looling east. Look towards argentina and you're looking west, I guess. Don't ask me what happens if you look towards London.

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