Tolin's 2024 World Cruise blog posts, Day 99, Apr 17, 2024, Null Island (Soul buoy)
Null Island is the location at zero degrees latitude and zero degrees longitude (0°N 0°E) i.e., where the prime meridian and the equator intersect.
The name is often used in mapping software as a placeholder to help find and correct database entries that have erroneously been assigned the coordinates 0,0.
Although "Null Island" started as a joke within the geospatial community, it has become a useful means of addressing a recurring issue in geographic information science.
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The point on the Earth's surface defined as Null Island is located in international waters in the Atlantic Ocean, roughly 370 miles off the coast of West Africa, in the Gulf of Guinea. A weather buoy, named the Soul buoy after the soul music genre, is permanently moored at the location.
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The nearest land to Null Island is a small islet 354 miles to the north (4°45′30″N 1°58′33″W) that is part of Ghana. The nearest point on the mainland is Achowa Point between Akwidaa and Dixcove, both in Ghana.
The depth of the seabed beneath the Soul buoy is around 16,210 feet or 3 miles. It is anchored to the bottom by several railroad wheels connected to a chain, connected to a very long rope.
Our captain and crew searched the area to find the buoy for us, but it was never found - perhaps from being sunk by very turbulent seas. One of our tender boats was lowered for some crew members to make a broader search, but still no luck. At least we can say "we saw the area" and the crew did their best.
From here we headed NW for 3 more sea days to our next port call at Dakar, Senegal
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