Diomede islands are in the Bering Strait. They are also separated by about four kilometers away. But the most interesting fact about them is that approximately in the middle of this separation distance it runs the international line for the date change, an imaginary line on the surface of the Earth passing through the Pacific Ocean and coincident with the 180th meridian.
Moving from one side to the other of the line involves a date change, one day to be more exact. So now you can imagine what happens when you are in Little Diomede Island and contemplate its neighboring island Big Diomede from there… you are looking at a place that is 21 hours in the future!
¿21 hours? Should not it be 23? Actually it should, but owing to administrative reasons it was adjusted to 21, because the small island belongs to the United States and the large one to Russia. If at Little Diomede Island is midday, then at Big Diomede is 9 o’clock of the next day.
But seeing the future is not by far as impressive as walking towards the future. Is that even possible? For a few days a year, yes it is. For in winter time both islands can be linked by a bridge of ice, so you can go from the future to the past several times a day, as many as you please.
The use of the 180th meridian as the international date line was designed in 1879 by Sir Sandford Fleming. The choice of the 180th meridian as the international date line is based on the convenient characteristic that it runs through practically uninhabited ocean areas.
Photos: Andy Proehl, Brad Schram, Ashley, KNOM.
