Where on our planet is the furthest point from any sea? I鈥檓 hoping it is the middle of Asia somewhere because I鈥檓 travelling that way soon, and want to stand at that point in swimming trunks, snorkel and mask.
鈥� The furthest point from the sea or, to give its technical name, the (CPI), does lie in Asia. It is located at 46掳 17鈥� N, 86掳 40鈥� E, in the Dzoosotoyn Elisen in Xinjiang, China, and is 2648 kilometres from the nearest coastline, at Tianjin on the Yellow Sea. Although its location was calculated long ago, it wasn鈥檛 visited by surveyor-explorers until 27 June 1986, when it was reached by British cousins Nicholas Crane and Richard Crane.
The Cranes travelled there by bicycle, crossing the Hindu Kush and Gobi deserts, to raise funds for the Intermediate Technology Development Group (which has since been renamed ) 鈥� a charity that supports technological advances in developing countries.
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Twenty years before that, however, the CPI attracted the attention of another group with very different interests. Its unique geographical status gave it considerable significance among western nuclear strategists debating the relative merits of weapons systems. For proponents of the submarine-launched Polaris missile, the ability to hit any point on the Earth 鈥� even if there is nothing there worth hitting 鈥� became a key point in the public relations battle with the sponsors of land-based and air-launched weapons.
When the A3 version of Polaris brought the CPI within range in the late 1960s, it was hailed as a technological triumph 鈥� particularly by the UK鈥檚 Ministry of Defence. They did not, however, trumpet the fact that to strike the pole a large nuclear-powered submarine would practically have to visit Tianjin docks.
Ironically, by the time the western navies acquired the capacity to bombard all of China with submarine-launched missiles, the region around the CPI was probably featuring more prominently on the targeting lists of generals in Moscow, rather than London or Washington DC, as Xinjiang acquired vital strategic significance in the Sino-Russian confrontation of the last quarter of the 20th century.
Finally, while appreciating the irony in your correspondent鈥檚 choice of attire, he should reflect that the CPI is subject to extreme climatic continentality: summers are hotter and winters are colder than many places of similar latitude because it is so far from the moderating influence of the ocean. 鈥淓lisen鈥� means 鈥渄esert鈥� in the local Chinese Uighur dialect, and although the location is certainly sandy, it is no beach.
Indeed, this part of Xinjiang might be considered an extension of the Gobi, which is a decidedly cold desert where temperatures drop to -40 掳C in winter. At the other extreme, during daytime in summer it can reach a blistering 50 掳C, though temperatures can vary by as much as 32 掳C within a 24-hour period. If he insists on wearing his trunks, I suggest that he keeps a warm pullover handy, just in case.
Hadrian Jeffs, Norwich, UK