# The greatest visual distance between two points on Earth **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 19, 2012, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-visual-distance-between-two-points-on-earth/641554 "2012-11-19T23:22:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2012, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-visual-distance-between-two-points-on-earth/641554/21 "2012-11-21T17:26:26Z")
Wiki mentions that the Vatnajokull glacier in Iceland might visible from 340 miles away from the Faroes > **[Vatnajökull](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vatnaj%C3%B6kull#Sight_line)** > > Vatnajökull (Icelandic pronunciation: \[ˈvahtnaˌjœːkʏtl̥\] (listen), literally "Glacier of Lakes"; sometimes translated as Vatna Glacier in English) is the largest and most voluminous ice cap in Iceland, and the second largest in area in Europe after the Severny Island ice cap of Novaya Zemlya. It is in the south-east of the island, covering approximately 10% of the country. > With an area of 7,900 km2, Vatnajökull is the second largest ice cap in Europe by volume (about 3,000 km3) and area (after t... I suspect that this is some sort of meteorological phenomenon like an ice blink rather than a real line-of-sight view > **[Iceblink](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_blink)** > > Iceblink is a white light seen near the horizon, especially on the underside of low clouds, resulting from reflection of light off an ice field immediately beyond. The iceblink was used by both the Inuit and explorers looking for the Northwest Passage to help them navigate safely. >  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Wood, James, ed. (1907). "Ice blink". The Nuttall Encyclopædia. London and New York: Frederick Warne. > > This climatology/meteorology–relate... ---
**Author:** ![EdwardLost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bbe5ce/32.png) [@EdwardLost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EdwardLost)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2012, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-visual-distance-between-two-points-on-earth/641554/22 "2012-11-21T17:56:09Z")
> [@j\_sum1](#): > > I guess this opens up an auxiliary question. What place on the earth’s surface enables a viewer to see the greatest unobstructed land (or ocean) area? I don’t have a cite, but I remember hearing that Kilimanjaro is indeed the winner of this - and that Mt. Diablo, CA it number 2. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2012, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-visual-distance-between-two-points-on-earth/641554/23 "2012-11-21T18:42:27Z")
> [@EdwardLost](#): > > I don’t have a cite, but I remember hearing that Kilimanjaro is indeed the winner of this - and that Mt. Diablo, CA it number 2. Kilimanjaro quite possible, but the Mount Diablo story is [total nonsense](http://www.viewfinderpanoramas.org/elevmisquotes.html#usa). You can see three times more from the top of Denali than from Diablo. (You can’t see Mt Shasta from Diablo, either.) It’s not even 4,000ft high. It’s got a car park on the summit, for goodness sake. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2012, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-visual-distance-between-two-points-on-earth/641554/24 "2012-11-21T18:49:58Z")
[Cite](http://www.mdia.org/site/docs/MDReviews/MDReview-Fall-Winter-2008.pdf) for Mount Diablo viewshed (pdf) > [@](#): > > Edward Earl, a mathematician and computer > scientist from San Diego, has researched a number > of promenant peaks around the world and has deter- > mined the “view sheds” from several North American > prominent peaks to be greater than Mount Diablo: > > Mount McKinley, Alaska 72,000 square miles > Mauna Kea, Hawaii 59,000 square miles > Pikes Peak, Colorado 28,000 square miles > Mount Diablo, California 18,000 square miles So in fact Denali may have four times more of a view, not three. ---
**Author:** ![EdwardLost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bbe5ce/32.png) [@EdwardLost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EdwardLost)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2012, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-visual-distance-between-two-points-on-earth/641554/25 "2012-11-21T19:08:39Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > [Cite](http://www.mdia.org/site/docs/MDReviews/MDReview-Fall-Winter-2008.pdf) for Mount Diablo viewshed (pdf) > So in fact Denali may have four times more of a view, not three. Well, at least I wasn’t the only person to have heard that little piece of BS. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2012, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-visual-distance-between-two-points-on-earth/641554/26 "2012-11-21T19:30:59Z")
> [@EdwardLost](#): > > Well, at least I wasn’t the only person to have heard that little piece of BS. Oh no. This bit of trivia is like kittens, in that it’s [all over the internet](https://www.google.com/#hl=en&safe=off&tbo=d&sclient=psy-ab&q=mount+diablo+after+kilimanjaro&oq=mount+diablo+after+kilimanjaro&gs_l=hp.3...2316544.2323033.1.2323212.34.28.2.4.4.4.521.4378.17j4j2j1j3j1.28.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.mGPvk6qfXOg&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&fp=2a00e73eb3565553&bpcl=38897761&biw=915&bih=537). (And surprisingly hard to squash.) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2012, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-visual-distance-between-two-points-on-earth/641554/27 "2012-11-21T20:00:25Z")
The Mt. Diablo claim is parochial BS. Among other things, the official California State Parks web site for Mt. Diablo makes the claim that it is second. (I live within site of Mt. Diablo). The view is spectacular, but it is only 3,849 ft in elevation from sea level nearby. You can see Half Dome on a very clear day. ---
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2012, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-visual-distance-between-two-points-on-earth/641554/28 "2012-11-21T21:26:23Z")
> [@Suburban\_Plankton](#): > > Mauna Kea would be another contender here, standing 13,803 feet high in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. If the oceans were drained, Mauna Kea would probably win, as the tallest mountain measured from its base. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2012, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-visual-distance-between-two-points-on-earth/641554/29 "2012-11-21T21:34:05Z")
> [@Learjeff](#): > > If the oceans were drained, Mauna Kea would probably win, as the tallest mountain measured from its base. Mauna Loa blocks plenty of its line of sight. ---
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2012, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-visual-distance-between-two-points-on-earth/641554/30 "2012-11-21T22:17:40Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > Here’s a good thread [with photos](http://www.summitpost.org/phpBB3/longest-lines-of-sight-photographed-t44409.html) on a different forum. > > And a [previous Dope thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/archive/index.php/t-272777.html), started by a particularly erudite poster. Holy crap, I don’t even remember that thread although I was responding in it. To be fair, I’ve had a few concussions in my life. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2012, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-visual-distance-between-two-points-on-earth/641554/31 "2012-11-21T23:37:02Z")
> [@ed\_anger](#): > > from Sarah Palin’s house to Russia, obviously. Actually, that’s not right. Her implication was that the distance was very small. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2012, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-visual-distance-between-two-points-on-earth/641554/32 "2012-11-21T23:41:08Z")
What’s the longest and steepest angular view? Ie, on Everest you can look down, but only to the next-highest plateau. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-visual-distance-between-two-points-on-earth/641554.md?page=1)