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Guided map tour · Earth & Climate
RECORD: 56.7°C (134°F) — recorded July 10, 1913 at Furnace Creek. Badwater Basin sits at -86m below sea level — the lowest point in North America. Ground…
Open this tour on the live map →RECORD: 56.7°C (134°F) — recorded July 10, 1913 at Furnace Creek. Badwater Basin sits at -86m below sea level — the lowest point in North America. Ground surface temperatures regularly exceed 90°C (194°F). Despite the extreme heat, Death Valley is home to the Devils Hole pupfish — a species that has survived in a single pool for 10,000+…
RECORD: -67.7°C (-89.9°F) — recorded February 6, 1933. Population: ~500 people in the Sakha Republic, Siberia, Russia. At these temperatures, glasses freeze to faces, batteries die in minutes, and cars must run 24/7 or their engines won't restart. The school only closes at -52°C. Hot water thrown in the air freezes instantly mid-air.…
DEPTH: 10,935m (35,876 ft) — Challenger Deep. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, east of the Mariana Islands. If Mount Everest were placed in the trench, its peak would still be 2,086m underwater. Water pressure at the bottom: 1,086 bar (15,750 psi) — equivalent to having 50 jumbo jets stacked on top of you. Only 27 people have…
RECORD: Some weather stations have never recorded rain. Parts have been dry for 500+ years. Located in northern Chile, between the Andes and the Pacific coast. The Atacama is so dry that NASA uses it to test Mars rovers — the soil is virtually identical to Martian regolith. Yet it's home to 500+ plant species adapted to harvest moisture…
RECORD: 11,871mm (467 inches) average annual rainfall. Located in Meghalaya, northeast India — the Khasi Hills. During monsoon season (June-September), it rains almost continuously. The nearby village of Cherrapunji once received 26,461mm in a single year (1861). Despite all this rain, the region faces water shortages in winter because…
AVERAGE: 34.4°C year-round — hottest average temperature on Earth. Located in the Afar Triangle, Ethiopia — where 3 tectonic plates are pulling apart. This is the closest thing to an alien landscape on Earth: neon-yellow sulfur springs, bubbling acid lakes (pH 0.2), salt flats, and active lava lakes at Erta Ale volcano. The Afar people…
SUMMIT: 6,263m above sea level — but 6,384.4km from Earth's center. Located in Ecuador, near the equator. Due to Earth's equatorial bulge (the planet is wider at the equator), Chimborazo's summit is 2,168m farther from the center of the Earth than Everest's. This makes it the point on Earth's surface closest to the stars. The equatorial…
DISTANCE: 2,432km to the nearest inhabited land (Saint Helena). A volcanic island in the South Atlantic Ocean. POPULATION: ~245 people — sharing just 8 surnames. No airport. A supply ship visits 8-9 times per year. The journey from Cape Town takes 6 days by boat. The island has a single settlement: Edinburgh of the Seven Seas. There's 1…
HEIGHT: 562m — a razor-thin volcanic spire rising from the Pacific Ocean. Located 20km southeast of Lord Howe Island, Australia. Just 200m wide, Ball's Pyramid is the remains of a shield volcano that formed 7 million years ago. In 2001, scientists discovered a colony of Lord Howe Island stick insects on a tiny bush 100m up the cliff — a…
OUR PLANET'S WILDEST RECORDS — mapped. KEY EXTREMES: • Hottest: 56.7°C — Death Valley, USA (1913) • Coldest: -89.2°C — Vostok Station, Antarctica (1983) • Deepest: 10,935m — Mariana Trench • Driest: 0mm/year — Atacama, Chile • Wettest: 11,871mm/year — Mawsynram, India • Most remote: 2,432km — Tristan da Cunha • Highest point from Earth's…
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Why does this place matter? Explain in one or two sentences.
Find this place on a blank map: which country and continent is it in?
Write down two facts you learned about this place.
Why does this place matter? Explain in one or two sentences.
Find this place on a blank map: which country and continent is it in?
Write down two facts you learned about this place.