In geodesy, a meridian arc measurement is a highly accurate determination of the distance between two points with the same longitude. Two or more such determinations at different locations then specify the shape of the reference ellipsoid which best approximates the shape of the geoid. This process is called the determination of the Figure of the Earth. The earliest determinations of the size of a spherical Earth required a single arc. The latest determinations use astro-geodetic measurements and the methods of satellite geodesy to determine the reference ellipsoids.
Read more about Meridian Arc: The Earth As A Sphere, The Earth As An Ellipsoid, Meridian Distance On The Ellipsoid
Famous quotes containing the words meridian and/or arc:
“to these
Hale dead and deathless do the women of the hill
Love for ever meridian through the courters’ trees
And the daughters of darkness flame like Fawkes fires still.”
—Dylan Thomas (1914–1953)
“Male urination really is a kind of accomplishment, an arc of transcendance. A woman merely waters the ground she stands on.”
—Camille Paglia (b. 1947)