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Unit 4 - Mercator Sailing

1. The document describes Mercator projection and Mercator sailing. It explains how Mercator projection constructs nautical charts by wrapping a cylinder around a globe and projecting the parallels and meridians. 2. It details features of Mercator charts including meridians appearing as parallel lines and increasing scale with higher latitudes. 3. It provides the formula for Mercator sailing to calculate course and distance from differences in meridional parts and longitude instead of great circle sailing.

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Utpal Kant
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1K views

Unit 4 - Mercator Sailing

1. The document describes Mercator projection and Mercator sailing. It explains how Mercator projection constructs nautical charts by wrapping a cylinder around a globe and projecting the parallels and meridians. 2. It details features of Mercator charts including meridians appearing as parallel lines and increasing scale with higher latitudes. 3. It provides the formula for Mercator sailing to calculate course and distance from differences in meridional parts and longitude instead of great circle sailing.

Uploaded by

Utpal Kant
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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TERRESTRIAL NAVIGATION

BSC SEM I
UNIT 4– MERCATOR SAILING
MERCATOR SAILING - 10 HRS
MERCATOR PROJECTION

• The three dimensional curved surface of the earth has to be


represented on a two dimensional flat surface of a chart for the
sake of convenience in navigation
• Mercator used cylindrical projection
• Imagine that the earth is a transparent globe with parallels of
latitude and meridians of longitude drawn on it
• Imagine that a cylinder , having the same radius as that of the
globe, is placed enclosing the globe, tangential to the equator
• Imagine that a source of light is placed at the centre of the
globe and the projections of the parallels of latitude and
meridians of longitude on the inside of the cylinder get marked
permanently
• If the cylinder is now cut along its length , opened out and
placed on a flat table, it would represent a Mercator chart
MERCATOR PROJECTION
FEATURES OF A MERCATOR CHART
1. The equator appears as a straight line
2. All meridians appear as straight lines parallel to
and equidistant from each other and cross the
equator and all parallels of latitude at right
angles
3. Parallels of latitude would appear as straight
lines parallel to each other but the distance
between consecutive parallels would increase
as latitude increases
4. Polar regions do not appear
5. One minute of dlong is the same size in all parts
of the chart (Refer sl 2 above)
6. One minute of dlat increases in size steadily as
we go away from the equator (Refer sl 3 above)
FEATURES OF A MERCATOR CHART (Contd..)
7. Latitude scale can also be used to measure the
distance between two positions on chart.
8.At the equator the lat. scale = long. Scale
9. In other lats., lat Scale = long scale x secant
Lat
10. The long scale on a Mercator Chart is
constant throughout the chart. Due to this
the distances and areas on a Mercator Chart
are exaggerated and proportional to secant
of latitude
11. Mercator projection is Orthomorphic, i.e.,
scale of distance in all the directions around
a point is constant.
12. Rhumb lines appear as straight lines
DEPARTURE
Departure

❑Departure = D Long × Cos


Lat
DEPARTURE
Departure for a vessel on any
course other than North or South

Departure = D long ×
Cos (Mid latitude) which is
approximately equal to D long ×
Cos (Mean latitude)
NATURAL SCALE OF A CHART
❖ Found under the title of a chart
❖ It is specific for a latitude
❖ It is expressed as a ratio or a fraction.
eg: 1:200,000 or 1/200,000
❖ If the distance between 2 points on a chart is,
say, 1 cm., the actual distance between 2 points
on the surface of Earth is 200,000 cm.
❖ In coastal areas it is normally given for the
middle latitude of the chart
❖ Natural Scale of a Chart is the ratio between a
unit of length measured on the chart and a
corresponding unit measured on the Earth’s
surface.
• Natural scale of a Mercator chart varies from lat to lat. Therefore
any natural scale stated on the chart is valid for a particular lat
only.
• Natural scale is normally expressed as the relationship that one
minute of long on the chart bears to one minute of long on the
Earth, in that lat (departure for one minute of long)
• E.g. If 1’ of long on a chart is represented by 5mm in lat 60°,
the natural scale in that lat can be obtained as follows:
• Natural scale = Chart dist/Earth dist
• Chart dist for 1’ of long = 5mm
• Since 1’ of long on the earth at equator is equal to 1mile =
1852m, Length of 1’ of long in lat 60°would be the departure in
that lat corresponding to a difference of long of 1’ i.e. (departure
= dlong × cos lat ) = 1× 1852 × 1000 × cos 60°
Natural scale = 5/1 × 1852000 ×½ = 10/1852000 = 1/185200
Note
To measure distances use the latitude scale closest to the area
Never use longitude scale for measuring distance
• On a Mercator chart the E- W distance between two places,
measured along the latitude scale is the departure between them
in Nautical Miles
• If measured along the longitude scale(in minutes of longitude) it is
the dlong between them
Find the length between meridians 1°apart on a Merctor
chart drawn to a natural scale of 1/1000,000 in latitude 30°S.

N. Scale = Chart distance/ Earth distance


1/1000,000 = x mm/60×cos30×1852×1000mm
x = 96.23mm

On a Mercator chart, 1°of longitude is represented by 5cm.


What is the natural scale of the chart in latitude 60°N?
N.Scale = chart distance / Earth distance
= 5 / 60×1852×100×cos60°
= 1 / 1111200
Find the length of 1°of long, if 1°of lat on a mercator chart
measures 12cm in lat 40°S.
Let y cm be the length of 1°of long at lat 40°S
1°of lat = 60x1852x100 is represented by 12 cm
1°of long dist = dep for 1°of long at lat 40° =
60x1852x100xCos 40°
(12/ 60x1852x100) =(y/60x1852x100xCos 40°)
12 =y/ Cos 40°)
Y = 12 x Cos 40° =9.192 cm
1°of long on a mercator chart measures 2.8 cm .Find
the dist in miles between 2 points in lat 50° N , 5.6cm
apart on the chart.
1°of long =2.8cm
Dep for 1°of long = 2.8cm
60’xCos 50° = 2.8cm
1cm = (60’xCos 50°)/2.8
5.6 cm = (5.6x60’xCos 50°)/2.8 = 2x60xCos 50° = 12oxCos 50°
= 77.13 NM
RHUMB LINE

• Rhumb line is a line which when drawn on a chart


makes equal angle to all meridians on the way.
• On Mercator Charts Rhumb line appears as a
straight line. On a Gnomonic Chart, All Rhumb
line courses except North – South and East – West
courses, converge towards the poles.
• On the surface of the earth a rhumb line would be
curved. This is because on a Mercator chart the
meridians appear parallel to each other whereas on
the surface of the earth they are not
MERCATOR PROJECTION
Construction of Mercator Charts

Example
Construct a Mercator chart of the area 28º N to 32º N, 15° w to 20º W to a natural scale of 1/ 1000,000 in
latitude 30° N
• First calculate the long scale from the given natural scale
• The length of one degree of long in lat 30° = 60’× 1852 × 1000 × Cos 30º = 96229920mm
• To a scale of 1/ 1000000, the above length on the Earth would be represented by 96,229,920 / 1,000,000 =
96.233mm (approx) on the chart
• Draw in the limiting lat of 28º N and on it, mark off the meridians 96.23 mm apart
• Erect the meridians perpendicular to the limiting latitude and parallel to each other
• Now calculate the lat scale. To be precise, the length of each minute of lat should be calculated separately.
Sufficient accuracy can be obtained particularly in low latitudes if the length of each degree of lat is
calculated
• The natural scale we have chosen is 1° of long = 96.23 mm
MERCATOR PROJECTION
Construction of Mercator Chart
• The natural scale, we have chosen is, 1º of long = 96.23 mm
• 1’ of long = (96.23 / 60 )mm
• DMP between two latitudes is the number of times 1’ of d’long can be placed along a meridian between
those latitudes on a Mercator chart
• The distance on the chart between latitude 28º N and latitude 29° N = DMP between two latitudes × length
of 1’ of long to the scale already chosen
• MP for lat 28º = 1740.2
• MP for lat 29 = 1808.1
• DMP = 67.9
• The distance on the chart between latitude 28º N and latitude 29° N =67.9 × (96.23/60) = 108.99mm
• Mark off this distance of 108.9mm from the limiting latitude along any meridian
• Draw in the 29° parallel of lat through the point marked off, parallel to the limiting lat and perpendicular to
the meridians
• Repeat this process for every 1° till the other limiting lat 32º
MERCATOR PROJECTION
Construction of Mercator Chart
• The formula latitude scale = longitude scale × sec latitude has not been
used for this purpose as it holds good for one particular latitude only and not
when dealing with distances between two latitudes
MERCATOR SAILING
Where the distance exceeds 600 M, it is recommended that
the calculation be done by Mercator Sailing in order to get
more accurate results than by plane and parallel sailing
methods.
MERIDIONAL PARTS: Meridional Parts for any latitude is the
length of a meridian between the equator and the parallel of
that latitude, expressed in minutes of longitude and it is given
in Nories Tables.
DMP: Difference of Meridional Parts or DMP between any
two parallels of latitude is the length of the meridian,
contained between those two parallels of latitude, expressed
in minutes of longitude. In other words, N – S distance
between the two parallels of latitude, expressed in minutes
of longitude, is called the DMP between them.
DMP between position A and position B is the difference
between the MP for lat A and that for lat B, both of which are
extracted from Nories Tables. The rule whether to add or
subtract, is similar to that for obtaining dlat between two
places – same names subtract, different names add.
MERCATOR SAILING FORMULA
Dlong = tan course Distance = d’lat × sec course
DMP
D’LON
G
DE
P

DMP
C

D’LA
o

Note: To get DMP, apply same rule as for d’lat – same


names subtract, different names add.
Mercator Sailing Examples
On 19th March the observed noon position was 22ﾟ
55’N 131ﾟ52’W and on the previous day noon position
was 21ﾟ14’N 124ﾟ33’W. Find the distance and track
made good noon to noon.

D’Long ÷ DMP = tan Co


D’Lat ÷ cos Co = Distance
D’Lat = 1ﾟ41’N = 101 minutes
D’Long = 7ﾟ19’W = 439 minutes
Mer Parts 22ﾟ55’N = 1404.09 N
Mer Parts 21ﾟ14’N =1295.73 N Co = N 76ﾟ08.1’W
DMP = 108.36 N Dist = 421.5’
Find the Course and Distance by Mercator Sailing
method from A (Lat. 02° 50′ S, Long. 081° 10′ W) to B
(Lat. 38° 10′ S, Long. 178° 00′ E).

Lat A 02 50 S Long A 081 10 W MP of A = 168.91 S


Lat B 38 10 S Long B 178 00 E MP of B = 2466.50 S
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
D’lat 35° 20 S D’long 100° 50 W DMP = 2297.59 S
= 2120’ S = 6050’ W
Tan Co. = D’long/ DMP = 6050/2297.59
Course = S 69°12.3’ W (Ans.)
Dist = Dlat × Sec Co
2120 × Sec 69° 12.3’= 5971.40’
00ﾟ04’ S 178ﾟ20’W

301 ° = N 59° W

Arrival Lat =12° 01.2’ N


ANSWER
DMP = 809.4
ARR LAT = 46° 27.5’ S
Distance = 1086.38
ANSWER
DLAT 17°43’
ARR LAT = 35° 37’S
DMP = 1191.3
DLONG = 69°14.5’E
ARR LONG = 56° 37.6’ E

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