Geography of the Netherlands

Geography of the Netherlands

Location: Western Europe, bordering the North Sea, between Belgium and Germany

Map of the Netherlands
Contents


Geographic coordinates: ca. 51° - 53° N, 4° - 7° E

  • 1 degree = 111 km NS, 68 km EW (the ratio is 0.61, the cosine of the latitude)
  • 1 minute = 1,850 m NS (ca. 1 nautical mile), 1,140 m EW
  • 1 second = 31 m NS, 19 m EW

Also the Dutch RD coordinate system (Rijksdriehoeksmeting) is common, see [1] (https://rdinfo.kadaster.nl/pdf/rd_brochure.pdf) (pdf, in Dutch; see little map on p.1) and converter (http://web.inter.nl.net/users/F.Kissels/gps/conversie.html). There is a west-east coordinate between 0 and 280 km, and a south-north coordinate between 300 and 620 km.

The reference point is the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwentoren (Our Lady's tower) in Amersfoort, with RD coordinates (155.000, 463.000) and geographic coordinates ca. Template:Coor dm.

Rate of change of solar time: 1 minute per 17 km EW.

Highest altitude of the Sun on a day varies at the center from 38.5 - 23.5 = 15 degrees in December to 38.5 + 23.5 = 62 degrees in June. This occurs, depending on east-west location, at ca. 11:40 UTC, i.e. local time 12:40 in winter and 13:40 in summer.

Map references: Europe

Area:
total: 41,526 km²
land: 33,883 km²
water: 7,643 km²

Land boundaries:
total: 1,027 km
border countries: Belgium 450 km, Germany 577 km

Coastline: 451 km

Maritime claims:
exclusive fishing zone: 200 nautical miles
territorial sea: 12 nautical miles

Climate: temperate; marine; cool summers and mild winters

Terrain: mostly coastal lowland and reclaimed land (polders); some hills in southeast

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Zuidplaspolder (Nieuwerkerk aan den IJssel) -7 m
highest point: Vaalserberg 321 m

Natural resources: natural gas, petroleum, arable land

Land use:
arable land: 25%
permanent crops: 3%
permanent pastures: 25%
forests and woodland: 8%
other: 39% (1996 est.)

Irrigated land: 6,000 km² (1996 est.)

Natural hazards: the extensive system of dikes, dams and sand dunes protect nearly one-half of the total area from being flooded

Environment - current issues: water pollution in the form of heavy metals, organic compounds, and nutrients such as nitrates and phosphates; air pollution from vehicles and refining activities; acid rain

Environment - international agreements:
party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Biodiversity, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol

Geography - note: located at mouths of three major European rivers (Rhine, Maas or Meuse, and Scheldt)

Missing image
Netherlands_pol87.jpg
Map of the Netherlands

See also

External links

Maps

For public transport maps see Transportation in the Netherlands#External links.

Beach locations are defined by km-pole numbers, indicated on wooden poles every 250 m. See map (zip-file) (http://www.rovernet.nl/winkel/rover_strandfolder.zip) with beach from Den Helder to Hoek van Holland, showing these numbers and also public transport info.

Miscellaneous

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