Graham P Davis wrote:

On 14/02/17 07:21, Vidcapper wrote:
On 13/02/2017 22:46, Graham P Davis wrote:
On 13/02/17 19:23, Adam Lea wrote:
On 13/02/2017 16:20, JohnD wrote:
"Norman Lynagh" wrote in message
...

I see that a buoy in the Arctic at 85.9°N 31.0°E reported a
temperature of -1°C
early on 9th Feb and +1°C late on 10th Feb. It then went back down to
-25°C
yesterday. Fascinating times!
========================

Not at 85N admittedly, but Svarlbard seems to have been significantly
above freezing for several days recently. See eg post #2760 at:

https://forum.arctic-sea-ice.net/ind...1611.2750.html

Seems to be the end of the (relatively) very mild weather in the
Arctic for now, but interesting while it lasted.

It sounds really strange to hear of above freezing temperatures that
close to the North Pole. Surely it should be like a deep freezer up
there at this time of year.

There's open water about 300nm due south of the buoy whereas it should
be about 700nm at this time of year

I thought nm meant nanometres?


I was going to type 'NM' but made the mistake of Googling to check. The top
reference I saw gave 'nm' as the abbreviation. Now I've had another look and
this is what Wikipedia says:

++++
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. ++++

Considering the nautical mile is based on a numerical system that dates back
to Babylonian times, you'd think someone might have come up with an agreed
standard by now. ;-)


Just to confuse the issue further, in the Units and Terminology section in the
Admiralty Sailing Directions (Pilots) it states that 'Distances are expressed
in sea miles of 60 to a degree of latitude'. In the body of the text they then
simply refer to 'miles'.

In reports that I write in a marine context I normally refer only to 'miles'.
In that context it is implicit that I mean 'nautical miles'. This is consistent
with how distances are referred to by mariners i.e. 'miles' means 'nautical
miles'. The reason is that distances in nautical miles can easily be measured
using the latitude scale on navigation charts.

--
Norman Lynagh
Tideswell, Derbyshire
303m a.s.l.
http://peakdistrictweather.org
@TideswellWeathr