Antipodes Project (I)

The Antipodes Project

	The project in survey (6 Min [no sound] 29 MB)
Image sources (unedited): (top) ausderluft.de (centre) University of Miami (bottom) Spiritone.com	What is on the other side of the Earth? Where would a hole - drilled through the centre of the globe - end? These questions from childhood days stood at the beginning of the Antipodes Project. Regardless where one starts "drilling" in central Europe, the destination is always in the South Western Pacific ocean, several thousand miles East of Australia. A point for example, which is situated opposite of Duesseldorf, Germany, lies more than 1400 km South East of New Zealand's capital Wellington. It is located in an extremely stormy area in International Waters, far away from any regular shipping traffic. The next inhabited place is 438 nautical miles (about 811km) away from Duesseldorf's antipodes and concerns Pitt Island, a place belonging to the Chatham archipelago. The island measures approx. 65 km² and is inhabited by only 38 people (New Zealanders).	Image sources (unedited): (top) Microsoft Encarta (centre) Microsoft Encarta (bottom) Nasa
A line projected back from Pitt Island through the centre of the Earth ends in the southern Massiv Central, in the heart of the French Cévennes national park. So this is how far one has to travel from Duesseldorf (and anywhere in central Europe) to physically realize what the term antipodes literally denotes: »Antipodes [is derived from] Greek anti- "opposed" and pous "foot" [and] means "diametrically opposed", and more specifically refers to the opposite side of the Earth, the region of the antipodal point« [and those standing there with their feet on the ground]. [*] Precisely that was the plan: Two people should line up simultaneously at global antipodes - thus at the greatest distance attainable on earth - and document this event. The following was planned for this "meeting": A specific bearing should be agreed on in which to point photo cameras at both ends and at the same time. The direction was to be chosen for the lenses to look at each other, hypothetically around the bend of the Earth. At a particular moment both shutters should be pressed to capture this unusual "vis-a-vis" situation. Provided one hits exact antipodes, any angle may be selected (due to the spherical shape of the Earth), as long as it is complementary to its antipodean counterpart.	Example for complementary bearings	Image source: Nasa Pitt Island; Mount Hakepa Image source: Coolcat.net Terrain opposite of Mount Hakepa in Southern France
[*] A short but excellent article about the word and concept of antipodes can be found at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (link opens in new window)

Pitt Island's antipodes: coast outline; click on image to enlarge

The project is organized in three steps :
1. Cartographic analysis
2. Event "in sito"
3. Exhibition

In spring 2003 I found an online article published by the New Zealand Educational Institute, in which Rob Cameron, the only teacher on Pitt spoke about life on the island. I contacted him and Rob and his six pupils became important partners and a source of local expertise for the Antipodes project.
In September two friends of mine - Ralf Kleimann und Roy Gollogly - travelled to Pitt Island, while I went to Pitt's antipodes in the Cévennes.

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Before we were able to look for any exact places to meet by means of GPS and on the spot, a pre-selection of locations had to be made. Theoretically a terrain of 65 km² was in question. First of all the antipodes of Pitt island were cartographically determined in France.

Image source (unedited):Nasa

Vegetation zones (F)
Click to enlarge detail

Preparations
The search for a pair of exact antipodean points followed two demands: they should both be situated above the average land height and not be covered by forests. Accordingly, the antipodean area of Pitt Island was marked on a detailed map of the Cévennes. Secondly, different grades of vegetation density could be worked out and the summits in the area identified. Elevated and vegetation-free spots were sought for an expected far-sight which was desired for the photos to be taken at the meeting. After the same procedure had been used also for Pitt Island, both maps were projected onto one another. It turned out that - especially due to the dense forests of the French side - less than 10% of the total area came in question to define the exact point. 11 points appeared (cartographically) promising. The next task was to practically examine and to identify the best one of them on the spot.

Vegetation zones (Pitt)
Click to enlarge detail

Potential meeting points (F)
Click to enlarge detail

Reconstruction of two potential meeting points
on a photo taken approaching Pitt Island.

Potential meeting points (Pitt)
Click to enlarge detail

On 19th September I arrived at the Commune de St. Privat et Vallonge in the Cévennes national park; three days later Ralf and Roy reached Pitt Island. Pitt can only be gotten to by local fisher boats or a privately chartered four seat aircraft from the main island of the Chathams. Since bad weather frequently obstructs any traffic across the 30 km wide Pitt Strait which separates the islands, the feasibility of our whole project remained at risk until the last moment.

Point number 3 on our maps appeared to be the most suitable location on both sides for the antipodean line-up. So we agreed to "meet" there on 27th September 2003 at 07:37:00 h Central European Summer Time, equivalent to 18:22:00 h Chatham Islands Standard Time. This was the moment when the sun rose in the Cévennes and set on Pitt Island. Any other time of day would have meant to find one location being on the night side of the globe.

At this precise moment the photo camera in France should be pointed East South East-wards (108°) and the one on Pitt Island focussing West North West (288°). This way we were looking at each other directly through the cameras when simultaneously pressing the shutter.

The co-ordinates could be determined with an accuracy of less than 8 m measurement uncertainty.


Scene 1: Ralf und Levi from Pitt Island, determine a possible meeting point using GPS	Die Suche nach den geeigneten Koordinaten. The video displays the events in France and on Pitt Island appearing alternately. The file size of 10,6 MB may cause a delay of up to a few minutes when loading the video. Should the film not display at all, you may download the QuickTime player (for Windows) here from the Apple Homepage or right-click here to download the video directly onto your hard drive (MPEG 1 format).		Scene 2: On top of Mont Mars (opposite the place of scene 1); taking notes of measurements

Scene 3: Transport on Pitt Island	Scene 4: Roy und Levi on the west coast of Pitt Island	Scene 5: Ground marking a point in France to find it quickly if needed at the meeting	Scene 6: Exchanging the news


Continue with the Action

Work in Progress	Actions	Installations	Miscellaneous	Jozwiak
Antipodes (I)	First Flush	Snow Letter	Page Flipper	Realtime
Project	Action	Exhibition+TV	Pitt Island	Cévennes