Topographic isolation
A summit's radius of dominance to equal elevation.
Topographic isolation is the minimum horizontal distance from a summit to a point of equal elevation, defining a radius within which the peak is the highest. It applies to hills, islands, major mountains, and submarine summits. Mount Everest has an undefined isolation because no higher point exists.
Quick Facts
- Applies to
- Hills
- islands
- major mountain peaks
- submarine summits
- Highest isolation (land)
- Aconcagua, 16,534 km / 10,274 mi
- Undefined isolation
- Mount Everest
- Common approximation
- Distance to nearest higher neighbour (NHN)
Facts from the source article.
Examples
The Zugspitze, Germany's highest mountain at 2,962 m, has an isolation of 25.8 km because the nearest point at that elevation is the 2,988 m Zwölferkogel in Austria's Stubai Alps. Mount Everest's isolation is often listed as the Earth's polar circumference or, questionably, half that value. Aconcagua, the highest peak in the Americas, has no higher land for 16,534 km; its height is first exceeded by Tirich Mir in the Hindu Kush. Mont Blanc's nearest higher mountains are all in the Caucasus, with Kukurtlu Dome (4,978 m) as its reference peak.
More in Physical Geography & Elevation
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