What is the area of the square of one degree latitude and longitude?

Answer 1

That depends on where you are on Earth, specifically, your latitude.

All meridians of longitude converge (meet, come together) at the north and

south poles, so any two of them get closer and closer together as you get

closer to either pole.

One degree of longitude is about 69 miles along the equator, but only 48.8 miles

at latitude 45°, 17.9 miles at latitude 75°, and about 6 miles at latitude 85°.

So as you get farther from the equator, your 1° x 1° square is getting progressively

skinnier.

Here's the area of your square at a few different latitudes. Each square is

1 latitude degree tall and 1 longitude degree wide, and the indicated latitude

goes straight across its middle:

On the equator . . . . . 4,760 square miles

30° . . . . . 4,150 square miles

45° . . . . . 3,375 square miles

60° . . . . . 2,400 square miles

85° . . . . . 415 square miles