Nautical mile - wikipedia Nautical mile This is an old revision of this page, as edited by G0mx ( talk contribs ) at 13 : 05, 16 August 2017 ( Applied the convert template to 1852 m ). The present address ( URL ) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision. Revision as of 13 : 05, 16 August 2017 by G0mx ( talk contribs ) ( Applied the convert template to 1852 m ) ( diff ) ← Previous revision Latest revision ( diff ) Newer revision → ( diff ) Nautical mile Unit system SI derived unit Unit of Length Symbol M, NM, or nmi Unit conversions 1 M, NM, or nmi in...... is equal to... meter 1852 foot ≈ 6076.12 statute mile ≈ 1.15078 cable 10 Historical definition -- 1 nautical mile Visual comparison of a kilometer, statute mile, and nautical mile A nautical mile is a unit of measurement defined as 1,852 meters ( 6,076.1 ft ; 1.1508 mi ). Historically, it was defined as one minute of latitude, which is equivalent to one sixtieth of a degree of latitude. Today, it is an SI derived unit, being rounded to an even number of meters for its continued use in both air and marine navigation, and for the definition of territorial waters. One tenth of a nautical mile is a cable length. The derived unit of speed is the knot, defined as one nautical mile per hour. The geographical mile is the length of one minute of longitude along the Equator, about 1,855 m on the WGS 84 ellipsoid. Contents 1 Unit symbol 2 History 3 See also 4 References Unit symbol There is no internationally agreed symbol. M is used as the abbreviation for the nautical mile by the International Hydrographic Organization and by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures. NM is used by the International Civil Aviation Organization. nm ( the SI symbol for the nanometer ) is used by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. nmi is used by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the United States Government Publishing Office. As well as using M, the International Bureau of Weights and Measures recognises NM, Nm and nmi. History The word mile is from the Latin word for a thousand paces : mille passus. Navigation at sea was done by eye until around 1500 when navigational instruments were developed and cartographers began using a coordinate system with parallels of latitude and meridians of longitude. In 1617 the Dutch scientist Snell assessed the circumference of the Earth at 24,630 Roman miles ( 24,024 statute miles ). Around that time British mathematician Edmund Gunter improved navigational tools including a new quadrant to determine latitude at sea. He reasoned that the lines of latitude could be used as the basis for a unit of measurement for distance and proposed the nautical mile as one minute or one - sixtieth ( 1 / 60 ) of one degree of latitude. As one degree is 1 / 360 of a circle, one minute of arc is 1 / 21600 of a circle ( or, in radians, π / 10800 ). These sexagesimal ( base 60 ) units originated in Babylonian astronomy. Gunter used Snell 's circumference to define a nautical mile as 6,080 feet, the length of one minute of arc at 48 degrees latitude. Since the earth is not a perfect sphere but is an oblate spheroid with slightly flattened poles, a minute of latitude is not constant, but about 1,861 meters at the poles and 1,843 meters at the Equator, with a mean value of 1,852.3 metres ( 6,077 ft ). Other countries measure the minute of arc at 45 degrees latitude, giving the nautical mile a length of 6076 ft ( approximately 1852 m ). In 1929, the international nautical mile was defined by the First International Extraordinary Hydrographic Conference in Monaco as precisely 1,852 meters. Imperial units and United States customary units used a definition of the nautical mile based on the Clarke ( 1866 ) Spheroid. The United States nautical mile was defined as 6,080.20 feet ( 1,853.24 m ) based in the Mendenhall Order foot of 1893. It was abandoned in favour of the international nautical mile in 1954. The Imperial nautical mile, often called an Admiralty mile, or more correctly, an Admiralty measured mile, was defined by its relation to the Admiralty knot, 6,080 imperial feet per hour, so 1 imperial nautical mile is about 1,853.181 meters. It was abandoned in 1970 and, legally, references to the obsolete unit are now converted to 1,853 meters. See also Nautical portal Conversion of units Orders of magnitude ( length ) References ^ Jump up to : Göbel, E. ; Mills, I.M. ; Wallard, Andrew, eds. ( 2006 ). The International System of Units ( SI ) ( PDF ) ( in English from French original ) ( 8th ed. ). Paris : Bureau International des Poids et Mesures. p. 127. ISBN 92 - 822 - 2213 - 6. Retrieved 2017 - 06 - 20. CS1 maint : Unrecognized language ( link ) Jump up ^ Administration, US Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric. `` What is the difference between a nautical mile and a knot ? ''. oceanservice.noaa.gov. Retrieved 2016 - 06 - 09. Jump up ^ `` mile unit of measurement ''. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 2016 - 06 - 10. Jump up ^ `` UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION ON THE LAW OF THE SEA ''. www.un.org. Retrieved 2016 - 06 - 10. Jump up ^ Fenna, Donald ( 2002 ), `` cable, cable length, cable 's length '', A Dictionary of Weights, Measures, and Units, Oxford : Oxford University Press, pp. 35, ISBN 0 - 19 - 860522 - 6, OCLC 62608533, retrieved 12 January 2017. Also `` fathom '', from the same work ( pp. 88 -- 89, retrieved 12 January 2017 ). Jump up ^ Symbols, Abbreviations and Terms used on Charts ( PDF ) ( 6 ed. ). International Hydrographic Organization. 2016. Retrieved 2016 - 06 - 09. Jump up ^ `` WS SIGMET Quick Reference Guide '' ( PDF ). ICAO. ICAO. Retrieved 2016 - 06 - 09. Jump up ^ `` Law of the Sea ''. NOAA. Retrieved 2016 - 06 - 09. Jump up ^ `` APPENDIX A : SYMBOLS AND PREFIXES ''. IEEE. Retrieved 2016 - 06 - 09. Jump up ^ `` U.S. Government Printing Office Style Manual ''. U.S. Government Printing Office. Retrieved 2016 - 06 - 10. ^ Jump up to : `` Mile, Nautical and Statute -- FREE Mile, Nautical and Statute information Encyclopedia.com : Find Mile, Nautical and Statute research ''. www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2016 - 06 - 10. Jump up ^ `` REFINEMENT OF VALUES FOR THE YARD AND THE POUND '' ( PDF ). NOAA. National Bureau of Standards. Retrieved 2016 - 06 - 10. Jump up ^ `` imperial nautical mile ''. sizes.com. Retrieved 2016 - 06 - 10. Jump up ^ `` The Units of Measurement Regulations 1995 ''. www.legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 2016 - 06 - 10. 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Question: what is the equivalent distance in nautical miles of one knot
Answer: the knot, defined as one nautical mile per hour