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A nautical mile is a unit of length used in air, marine, and space navigation, and for the definition of territorial waters. [2] [3] [4] Historically, it was defined as the meridian arc length corresponding to one minute ( 1 / 60 of a degree) of latitude at the equator, so that Earth's polar circumference is very near to 21,600 nautical miles (that is 60 minutes × 360 degrees).
The numerical values for latitude and longitude can occur in a number of different units or formats: [2] sexagesimal degree: degrees, minutes, and seconds : 40° 26′ 46″ N 79° 58′ 56″ W; degrees and decimal minutes: 40° 26.767′ N 79° 58.933′ W; decimal degrees: +40.446 -79.982; There are 60 minutes in a degree and 60 seconds in a ...
1.15078 miles per hour (approximately), 20.25372 inches per second (approximately) 1.68781 feet per second (approximately). The length of the internationally agreed nautical mile is 1 852 m. The US adopted the international definition in 1954, having previously used the US nautical mile (1 853.248 m). [6]
Since one degree is 1 / 360 of a turn, or complete rotation, one arcminute is 1 / 21 600 of a turn. The nautical mile (nmi) was originally defined as the arc length of a minute of latitude on a spherical Earth, so the actual Earth's circumference is very near 21 600 nmi. A minute of arc is π / 10 800 of a radian.
= 6,371.009 kilometers = 3,958.761 statute miles = 3,440.069 nautical miles. D {\displaystyle D_{\,}\!} = Distance between the two points, as measured along the surface of the Earth and in the same units as the value used for radius unless specified otherwise.
The equator is divided into 360 degrees of longitude, so each degree at the equator represents 111,319.5 metres (365,221 ft). As one moves away from the equator towards a pole, however, one degree of longitude is multiplied by the cosine of the latitude, decreasing the distance, approaching zero at the pole.
Geodetic latitude and geocentric latitude have different definitions. Geodetic latitude is defined as the angle between the equatorial plane and the surface normal at a point on the ellipsoid, whereas geocentric latitude is defined as the angle between the equatorial plane and a radial line connecting the centre of the ellipsoid to a point on the surface (see figure).
The 4th parallel south is a circle of latitude that is 4 degrees south of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses the Atlantic Ocean, Africa, the Indian Ocean, Southeast Asia, Australasia, the Pacific Ocean and South America.