"Therefore people in Ecuador, Kenya, Tanzania and Indonesia are all a bit closer to the moon (not much, only about 13 miles closer) than people standing at the North and South poles."
I may just be pedantic, but isn't this off by the equator's radius? The moon's orbit is only inclined by 5 degrees, so it's roughly above the equator.
Also, this is a rather meaningless metric. Sea level is defined based on local gravity, so ignoring winds and temperature, air should be at the same pressure at a given altitude ASL at any latitude. Right?
The "outer space" boundary above any point on the surface does occur at the same pressure. And that boundary will also be an oblate spheroid. However, it won't have the same shape as the surface, given mantle inhomogeneities. But I have no clue what the differences look like.
The moon doesn't orbit the poles, but orbits (roughly) the equator. 'Distance to space' is orthogonal to the earth's surface, wherever you are standing. 'Distance to the moon' is not - for someone at the poles, it will always be to their side, never above their head. At the poles, your direct line to the moon will always have to travel some way across the width of the earth.
In fact, if you want to get really pedantic, then roughly half the time, the person at the pole will be closer to the moon than the person at the equator, when the moon has orbited to the opposite side of the planet to our equatorial chum...
They probably mean the peak furthest from the center of the earth rather than "closest to the moon" (which would be a rapidly moving point on earth and a silly measure). Also, wouldn't "closest to space" be measured as height of the atmosphere, which is roughly a height above sea level?
Chimborazo is not an 8K meter peak but it is the peak that's furthest from the center of the earth (because it's a fairly high 6K+ meter peak near the equator). Oxygen levels are, however, a function of height above sea level in a location--temperature is a function of many things--so Chimborazo in that respect is like other 6K meter peaks.
Proximity to outer space is an odd way to put it. I guess the atmosphere, to a first approximation, is also higher at the equatorial bulge.
The atmosphere is thinner toward the poles. The partial pressure of oxygen at the summit of Denali in Alaska (6,000m) is about the same as at the summit of a 7,000m peak in the Himalayas.
I may just be pedantic, but isn't this off by the equator's radius? The moon's orbit is only inclined by 5 degrees, so it's roughly above the equator.
Also, this is a rather meaningless metric. Sea level is defined based on local gravity, so ignoring winds and temperature, air should be at the same pressure at a given altitude ASL at any latitude. Right?