-------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: [ Seeking The True Land Area of the USA, If It Exists] Date: Thu, 4 Sep 2003 14:40:04 GMT From: [log in to unmask] ------------------ Dear Mr. Bach, The National Geographic website says "area," not "land area." It appears to include territorial waters (the 3-mile limit, not the 12-mile limit). In 1990, the U.S. Bureau of Census announced the area of the 50 states and District of Columbia as 9159125398000 square meters of land plus 650306038000 square meters of water for a total of 9809431436000 square meters. (source www.census.gov, gazetteer page) For 2000, they announced it was: 9161923119956 square meters of land plus 664706489036 square meters of water for a total of 9826629608992 square meters. (same source) The 1990 total is equal to 3787427.502 square U.S. survey miles (very close to Goode's number). The 2000 total land is equal to 3537424.143 square U.S. survey miles, but 3537438.293 square U.S. international miles. (the 2000 number you are using). The CIA number would appear to be land only (I am certain their methodology is classified), and the NGS number appears to be land and water inside the 3-mile limit, but I'm not sure why it is off by 60,000 square miles compared to Census. Joe McCollum Information Technology Specialist USDA Forest Service Knoxville, TN 37919