Sunday, July 14, 2019

How to Find Your Way Without A Compass, Part One, Orientation By The Sun©


 
The author orienting himself by the Sun, on a very hot day, picture by the author
  
Your car crashed in the desert, or the bush plane you were in went down, you’re all alone and you don’t have a compass.  You know there are ways to use the Sun to find north and south, but you don’t remember how.  No problem you think, everybody knows, the Sun rises in the east and sets in the west, right?  Right?

You, as the “misplaced” wilderness adventurer, can use your knowledge of how the Sun travels through the heavens to find your “orientation by the sun”1, but the first thing to know is that the Sun doesn’t always “…rise in the east and set in the west…”2.  In fact, on only two days of the year, does the Sun rise exactly in the east and set exactly in the west: these two days are March 21st, the Spring Equinox, and September 23rd, the Fall Equinox.  On every other day of the year, the Sun rises either south or north of true east and sets either north or south of true west.


Adapted from Survival: Land, Sea, Jungle, Arctic, p. 41, Fig. 16, by the author


On both the Fall and Spring Equinox, the Sun rises due east, directly over the equator, travels over Indonesia, Ecuador, northern Brazil, The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya and other countries, and then sets due west. 

Every day after the Spring Equinox, the Sun will rise and set further and further to the north of true east and west, until the Summer Solstice, on June 21st, when it reaches its most northerly point, at 23 degrees, 27 minutes, north latitude or as that line of latitude is called, Tropic of Cancer.  On the Summer Solstice the Sun rises, almost, at east-by-northeast and sets, close to, west-by-northwest3. 

Every day after the Summer Solstice, the Sun will rise and set further to the south, until on the Fall Equinox, September 23rd, the Sun will again rise in the east and set in the west, over the equator. 

In the days after the Fall Equinox, the Sun will continue to rise farther and farther to the south until on the 21st of December, the Winter Solstice, the Sun will rise and set at 23 degrees, 27 minutes south latitude, the Tropic of Capricorn.  On the Winter Solstice, the sun rises and sets at its furthest point to the south, rising almost, at east-by-southeast and setting near, west-by southwest4.

After the Winter Solstice, the Sun will begin to rise more and more to the north, until the Spring Equinox, when it rises and sets again, due east and west over the equator.

Knowing at what compass point the Sun rises and sets in it’s yearly journey, will help the “misplaced” wilderness adventure to orient themselves.  If you were “misplaced” late in May and the Sun is rising, you know that the direction of the rising Sun will be more east-by-northeast than east, and therefore you can adjust your mental compass.  Besides the rising and setting of the Sun, there are some other facts about the Sun’s journey that can help you determine the general compass points.


From Outdoor Survival Skills, p. 2-87. Author’s note, 23.4 degrees is the same as 23 degrees, 24 minutes.


If you are north of the Tropic of Cancer (23 degrees, 27 minutes, north, latitude), which runs through Egypt, Saudi Arabia, India southern China, Mexico, northern Cuba and the Bahamas, the Sun will travel through the south of the sky during both the summer and winter.  North of the Tropic of Cancer, from the Fall Equinox to the Spring Equinox, the noon sun will be low enough in the sky for you to tell easily, which direction is south.  On the Summer Solstice, if you are near the Tropic of Cancer, the noon Sun will be nearly overhead. 

If you are south of the Tropic of Capricorn (23 degrees, 27 minutes, south, latitude), which runs through Chile, southern Brazil, South Africa and Australia, the Sun will travel through the north part of the sky during both the winter and the summer.  South of the Tropic of Capricorn, from the Spring Equinox until the Fall Equinox, the sun will be low enough in the northern sky to tell which direction north is.  On the Winter Solstice, if you are near the Tropic of Capricorn, the noon Sun will be almost overhead. 

In the tropics, which lie between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, the Sun travels north of the equator from the Spring Equinox to the Fall Equinox and south of the equator from the Fall Equinox until the Spring Equinox. 

I hope that this will help you understand where the Sun is in its daily and yearly journey through the sky, because the rising and the setting of the Sun, it’s travels, not to mention its zenith at noon, can help you determine your direction.  It is important to remember, however, that you can only determine the general direction of north, south, east and west with the Sun.  What this all means to the “misplaced” wilderness adventurer is, except on two very special days of the year, you will only be able to find, “A rough approximation to the direction of the true meridian [the north-south line, Author’s note] for finding one’s way by the aid of a map…within about 20 deg.”5: This should be good enough for you to reorient yourself, in a general way.  Nevertheless, if you plan to use the Sun to determine your direction of travel, no matter how carefully you take into consideration, where and when, the Sun rises and sets, you will have an error in heading.  For the “misplaced” wilderness adventurer attempting to walk out, the “1 in 60” rule of thumb applies.  This rule states that for every 1° error in heading over one mile, you will be off track by about 88 feet or almost 30 yards, and for an error in heading of 20° for every mile traveled, you will be off track by a third of a mile, which is 1,760 feet or 587 yards6.  A pro-tip for travelling in the wilderness, when you don’t have a compass, is to note where the Sun strikes your face when are looking in the direction that you want to travel, for example, right ear, left ear, just above your right eye, right-side back of the head, etc.  Make sure as you travel, that the Sun is still striking you in the same spot and use this to help you maintain the same heading, if you must travel a winding trail.  Bear in mind that the Sun moves throughout the day, hour-by-hour, so re-orient yourself frequently.  Over the long trek, when you have only the Sun to orient yourself, you might find yourself more lost than found and this is why you should always carry at least one, but better yet, two compasses with you when you are in the wilderness.  For more on the importance of having two compasses with you when you travel in the wilderness see “Getting Lost And What To Do About It”, Circa 1915” HERE.

Always bring a compass; even better bring two, when you go into the wilderness. Picture by the author


For more on finding your “orientation by the sun” and how to find the points of the compass with either a traditional or digital watch, check back next week for “How to Find Your Way Without a Compass, Part Two, The Watch As A Compass”.

I hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and my videos at BandanaMan Productions and don’t forget to follow me on both The Woodsman’s Journal Online and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube, and if you have questions, as always, feel free to leave a comment on either site.


Notes

1  Stevens, E.E., “The Handy Compass”, Labor Digest: A National Magazine for the Advocacy of Industrial Peace, p. 11

2  Airlines War Training Institute, Survival: Land, Sea, Jungle, Arctic, [The Infantry Journal, Washington, D.C., 1944] p. 41-42

3  East-by-northeast is 22.5 degrees north of east and west-by-northwest is 22.5 degrees north of west, both are within one degree of the Tropic of Cancer. 

4  East-by-southeast and west-by southwest are both south of the east-west line by 22.5 degrees and are close to the Tropic of Capricorn.

5  Editor, “Truth”, No 718, Vol 28, [Bolt-court, Fleet Street, London, Oct 2, 1890] p 656

6  Wikipedia Contributors, “1 in 60 rule”, “the 1 in 60 rule is a rule of thumb which states that if a pilot has travelled sixty miles then an error in track of one mile is approximately a 1° error in heading” 



Sources

Airlines War Training Institute, Survival: Land, Sea, Jungle, Arctic, [The Infantry Journal, Washington, D.C., 1944] p. 41-42

Anderson, Eric G., M.D., Plane Safety And Survival, [Aero Publishers, Inc, Fallbrook, CA, 1978] p. 51-63

Department of the Airforce, Outdoor Survival Skills: How to Survive on Land, Sea and Ice!, [Info Books, Toronto, Canada, 1980] p. 2-86

Craighead, Frank, Jr., Phd, and Craighead, John J., Phd., How to Survive on Land and Sea, [United States Naval Institute, Annapolis, MD, 1956] p. 11

Editor, “The American Architect And Building News”, Vol. XXX, No. 775, [Ticknor & Co Publishers, Boston, MA November 1, 1890] p. 75 https://books.google.com/books?id=HYdMAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA75&dq=finding+south+with+a+watch&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiyt5-xjZTjAhUjwFkKHen8Aio4hgMQ6AEIPDAE#v=onepage&q=finding%20south%20with%20a%20watch&f=false, accessed 7/1/19

  
Louis, The Blacksmith and Wheelwright,Vol. XXXVIII, No. [M. T. Richardson Company, New York, NY, July 1898] p. 124

Phin, John, “How A Watch May Be Used As A Compass”, The Seven Follies of Science, [D. Van Nostrand Company, New York, NY 1906] p. 134-135

Risk, Paul, H., Outdoor Safety And Survival, [John Wiley & Sons, New York, NY, 1983] p 284-285

Stevens, E.E., “The Handy Compass”, Labor Digest: A National Magazine for the Advocacy of Industrial Peace, Vol 3, [Minneapolis, MN, December 1910] p. 10-11

“Where Do the Sun and Stars Rise?” [Stanford Solar Center, 2005] http://solar-center.stanford.edu/AO/sunrise.html, accessed 9/8/18

 Wikipedia Contributors, “1 in 60 rule”, [Wikipedia, The free Encyclopedia, December 21, 2017], https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1_in_60_rule, accessed 7/10/19 

No comments:

Post a Comment