nautical mile

picture of cutaway earth showing an angle of 1 minute of arc at its center

Various units of length used at sea, all of them in principle the length of 1 mean minute of arc on the meridian.

When the values for Earth’s polar and equatorial radii are based on the International Terrestrial Geoid, the nautical mile has a value of 1852.276 meters.1 Since 1929, however, most nations have used the international nautical mile.

See also:

1. International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics.
Bull. g�od. int. volume 157, 540, 552. (1925)

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