One minute of latitude equals how many nautical miles?

• A. One mile
• B. One nautical mile
• C. Two nautical miles
• D. One kilometer

Answer: (B)

One minute of latitude equals one nautical mile. The Earth’s latitude is divided into 60 minutes per degree, and each degree of latitude spans 60 nautical miles, so a minute is 1 nautical mile. Nautical miles are used on charts because they align with the way latitude lines measure distance. One nautical mile is about 1.852 kilometers. The other options don’t fit because a standard mile or a kilometer isn’t tied to latitude in the same way, and two nautical miles would correspond to two minutes of latitude.