Breddegrad

Breddegrad, known in English as latitude, is the geographic coordinate that specifies how far north or south a point on the Earth’s surface is from the equator. It is measured in degrees (°) and can be subdivided into minutes and seconds. Latitudes north of the equator are commonly written as positive values with the direction N (or a plus sign), and latitudes south as negative values with S. The equator has 0°, the North Pole 90°N, and the South Pole 90°S. Lines of constant latitude are called parallels and run east–west around the globe.

Breddegrad is used together with longitude to uniquely identify a location within the geographic coordinate system. In modern practice, latitude is defined on a reference ellipsoid (most commonly WGS84 for global positioning and maps), and coordinates can be expressed in decimal degrees or in degrees, minutes, and seconds. The length corresponding to one degree of latitude is approximately 111.32 kilometers, which is relatively constant, in contrast to the varying distances covered by lines of longitude as they converge toward the poles.

Applications and implications of latitude include its central role in climate, weather, and daylight patterns. It helps determine climate zones (tropics, temperate zones, polar regions) and seasonal daylight variation. It also underpins navigation, geocoding, and satellite positioning systems.

Examples: Oslo is about 59.91°N, Tokyo about 35.68°N, and Nairobi about 1.29°S. The concept is universal in geography and cartography; in Norwegian contexts, breddegrad is typically paired with lengdegrad (longitude).