deg2nm

Convert spherical distance from degrees to nautical miles

Syntax

nm = deg2nm(deg)

nm = deg2nm(deg,radius)

nm = deg2nm(deg,sphere)

Description

nm = deg2nm(deg) converts distances from degrees to nautical miles, as measured along a great circle on a sphere with a radius of 3440.065 nautical miles, the mean radius of the Earth.

nm = deg2nm(deg,radius) converts distances from degrees to nautical miles, as measured along a great circle on a sphere having the specified radius.

nm = deg2nm(deg,sphere) converts distances from degrees to nautical miles, as measured along a great circle on a sphere approximating an object in the Solar System.

Examples

Convert Arc Length to Nautical Miles

One degree of arc length is about 60 nautical miles, using a spherical model of the Earth.

deg2nm(1)

ans =
   60.0405

This is not true on Mercury, of course.

deg2nm(1,'mercury')

ans =
   22.9852

Input Arguments

deg — Distance in degrees

numeric array

Distance in degrees, specified as a numeric array.

Data Types: single | double

radius — Radius

3440.065 (default) | numeric scalar

Radius of sphere in units of nautical miles, specified as a numeric scalar.

sphere — Sphere

'sun' | 'moon' | 'mercury' | 'venus' | 'earth' | ...

Sphere approximating an object in the Solar System, specified as one of the following values: 'sun', 'moon', 'mercury', 'venus', 'earth', 'mars', 'jupiter', 'saturn', 'uranus', 'neptune', or 'pluto'. The value of sphere is case-insensitive.

Output Arguments

nm — Distance in nautical miles

numeric array

Distance in nautical miles, returned as a numeric array.

Data Types: single | double