20th meridian west

20°
20th meridian west

The meridian 20° west of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, Greenland, Iceland, the Atlantic Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole. In some geographic schema, it is used as the line of longitude which best delineates the historical separation between the Old World of Eurasia and Africa and the New World of the Americas.

The 20th meridian west forms a great circle with the 160th meridian east.

In Antarctica, the meridian defines the border between the British Antarctic Territory and Queen Maud Land. Between the 5th parallel north and the 60th parallel south it forms the eastern boundary of the Latin American Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone.

From Pole to Pole

Starting at the North Pole and heading south to the South Pole, the 20th meridian west passes through:

Co-ordinates Country, territory or sea Notes
90°0′N 20°0′W / 90.000°N 20.000°W / 90.000; -20.000 (Arctic Ocean) Arctic Ocean
81°33′N 20°0′W / 81.550°N 20.000°W / 81.550; -20.000 (Greenland)  Greenland
78°49′N 20°0′W / 78.817°N 20.000°W / 78.817; -20.000 (Jøkelbugten) Jøkelbugten
77°59′N 20°0′W / 77.983°N 20.000°W / 77.983; -20.000 (Greenland)  Greenland Gamma Island and Germania Land
76°55′N 20°0′W / 76.917°N 20.000°W / 76.917; -20.000 (Dove Bay) Dove Bay
76°15′N 20°0′W / 76.250°N 20.000°W / 76.250; -20.000 (Greenland)  Greenland Mainland, Kuhn Island, and the mainland again
74°16′N 20°0′W / 74.267°N 20.000°W / 74.267; -20.000 (Atlantic Ocean) Atlantic Ocean Greenland Sea
66°2′N 20°0′W / 66.033°N 20.000°W / 66.033; -20.000 (Iceland)  Iceland
63°32′N 20°0′W / 63.533°N 20.000°W / 63.533; -20.000 (Atlantic Ocean) Atlantic Ocean
60°0′S 20°0′W / 60.000°S 20.000°W / -60.000; -20.000 (Southern Ocean) Southern Ocean
73°25′S 20°0′W / 73.417°S 20.000°W / -73.417; -20.000 (Antarctica) Antarctica Border between the Antarctic territorial claims of the  United Kingdom and  Norway

See also

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