TSHCHARDUI, RUSSIA

The Tshchardjui International Latitude Observatory is one of the six observatories in the world established in 1899 by the International Geodetic Association. These were widely distributed in longitude but all situated on the same parallel of latitude (39° 08'). The purpose was to record the wobble of the poles and resultant shift in the equator and changes in latitude. The observatories worked in concert with each other for several decades on this project.

During World War I, contact with the observatory at Tshchardjui (also spelled Charjui) was lost, and it was not until later that it was discovered that it had functioned until 1919.

The Mizusawa Report states that on July 23, 1909, a new observation site had been established for Tshchardjui. Although the report does not indicate why, decades later Raymond Wilcove, an official of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), explains that the station was moved "because a river several miles distant changed its course and threatened it. Kitab was finally substituted for Charjui." The observatory, being relocated to Kitab, near Samark and in the Soviet Union, continued to function until the early 1980s.

These two charts from the 1980 Mizusawa Report, which recorded the standard deviation of the monthly mean latitude, demonstrate that Tschardjui functioned until about 1919 and Kitab from about 1931 to 1980.