Nautical Chart Symbols: Index of Abbreviations (U.S.)

Index of Abbreviations (U.S.)

Abbreviations

A



	AERO, Aero	Aero light	Aero RBn	Aeronautical radiobeacon
	AERO RC	Aeronautical radiobeacon	Al	Alternating
	ALP	Articulated Loading Platform	Alt	Alternating
	Am	Amber	anc	ancient
	ANCH, Anch	Anchorage




B

	B	Bay, bayou	Bdy Mon	Boundary monument
	bk	Broken	Bkw	Breakwater
	Bl	Blue	BM	Benchmark
	Bn	Beacon	Bn Tr	Beacon tower
	Br	Breakers	brg	Bearing
	brk	Broken	Bu	Blue




C

	c	Course	C	Can, cylindrical
	C	Cove	CALM	Centenary Anchor Leg Mooring
	Cas	Castle	Cb	Cobbles
	cbl	Cable	cd	Candela
	CD	Chart datum	Cem	Cemetery
	CG	Coast Guard station	Chan	Channel
	Ch.	Church	Chy	Chimney
	Cl	Clay	CL	Clearance
	cm	Centimeter(s)	Co	Coral
	Co rf	Coral reef	Cr	Creek
	crs	Course	Cup, Cup.	Cupola
	Cus Ho	Customs house	Cy	Clay




D

	D	Destroyed	Destr	Destroyed
	dev	Deviation	DIA, Dia	Diaphone
	Dir	Direction	dist	Distant
	dm	Decimeter(s)	Dn.	Dolphin
	Dol	Dolphin	DW	Deep Water route
	DZ	Danger Zone




E

	E	East, eastern	ED	Existence doubtful
	EEZ	Exclusive Economic Zone	E Int	Equal interval, isophase
	Entr	Entrance	Est	Estuary
	exper	Experimental	Explos	Explosive
	Exting, exting	Extinguished




F

	f	Fine	F	Fixed
	Fd	Fjord	F Fl	Fixed and flashing
	FISH	Fishing	Fl	Flashing
	Fla	Flare stack	fm	Fathom
	fms	Fathoms	fne	Fine
	Fog Det Lt	Fog detector light	Fog Sig	Fog signal
	FP	Flagpole	FS, FS.	Flagstaff
	ft	Foot, feet




G

	G	Gravel	G	Green
	G	Gulf	Gp Fl	Group flashing
	Gp Occ	Group occulting




H

	h	Hard	h	Hour
	H	Pilot transferred by helicopter	HAT	Highest astronomical tide
	Hbr Mr	Harbormaster	Historic Wk	Historic wreck
	Hk	Hulk	Hor	Horizontally disposed
	Hosp	Hospital	hr	Hour
	hrd	Hard




I

	IALA	International Association of Lighthouse Authorities	In	Inlet
	Intens	Intensified	IntQkFl	Interrupted quick flashing
	IQ	Interrupted quick flashing	I Qk Fl	Interrupted quick flashing
	Iso	Isophase	IUQ	Interrupted ultra quick




K

	km	Kilomter(s)	kn	Knot(s)




L

	L	Loch, lough, lake	Lag	Lagoon
	LANBY	Large Automatic Navigational Buoy	Lat, lat	Latitude
	LASH	Lighter aboard ship	LAT	Lowest astronomical tide
	Ldg	Landing	Ldg	Leading
	Le	Ledge	L Fl	Long flashing
	Lndg	Landing	LNG	Liquefied natural gas
	Long, long	Longitude	LOP	Line of position
	LPG	Liquefied petroleum gas	LSS	Life-saving station
	Lt	Light	Lt Ho	Lighthouse
	Lt V	Light vessel




M

	m	Meter(s)	m	Minute(s) of time
	m	Medium (in reference to sand)	M	Mud, muddy
	M	Nautical mile(s)	mag	Magnetic
	MHHW	Mean higher high water	MHLW	Mean higher low water
	MHW	Mean high water	MLWN	Mean high water neaps
	MHWS	Mean high water springs	Mi	Nautical mile(s)
	min	Minute of time	Mk	Mark
	MLHW	Mean lower high water	MLLW	Mean lower low water
	MLW	Mean low water	MLWN	Mean low water neaps
	MLWS	Mean low water springs	mm	Millimeter(s)
	Mo	Morse	MON, Mon	Monument
	MSL	Mean sea level	Mt	Mountain
	Mth	Mouth




N

	N	North, northern	N	Nun
	NE	Northeast	NM	Nautical mile(s)
	N Mi	Nautical mile(s)	No	Number
	Np	Neap tide	NW	Northwest
	NWS SIG STA	Weather signal station




O

	Obsc	Obscured	Obscd	Obscured
	Obs spot	Observation spot	Obstn	Obstruction
	Obstr	Obstruction	Oc	Occulting
	Occ	Occulting	Occas	Occasional
	ODAS	Ocean Data Acquisition System	Or	Orange




P

	P	Pebbles	P	Pillar
	PA	Position approximate	Pass	Passage, pass
	PD	Position doubtful	PLT STA	Pilot station
	Pk	Peak	Post Off	Post office
	Priv, priv	Private	Prod. Well	Production well
	PROHIB	Prohibited	Pyl	Pylon
	P	Pebbles	P	Pillar
	PA	Position approximate	Pass	Passage, pass
	PD	Position doubtful	PLT STA	Pilot station
	Pk	Peak	Post Off	Post office
	Priv, priv	Private	Prod. Well	Production well
	PROHIB	Prohibited	Pyl	Pylon




Q

	Q	Quick flashing	Qk Fl	Quick flashing




R

	R	Coast radio station providing QTG services	R	Red
	R	Rocky	Ra	Radar reference line
	Ra (conspic)	Radar conspicuous object	Ra Antenna	Dish aerial
	Racon	Radar transponder beacon	Radar Sc.	Radar scanner
	Radar Tr.	Radar tower	Radome, Ra Dome	Radar dome
	Ra Ref	Radar reflector	RBn	Circular radiobeacon
	RC	Circular radiobeacon	Rd	Roads, roadstead
	RD	Directional radiobeacon	RDF	Radio direction finding station
	Ref.	Refuge	Rep	Reported
	Rf	Reef	RG	Radio direction finding station
	Rk	Rock	Rky	Rocky
	R Mast	Radio mast	Ro Ro	Roll on Roll off
	R Sta	Coast radio station providing QTG services	R Tower	Radio tower
	Ru	Ruins	RW	Rotating radiobeacon




S

	S	Sand	S	South, southern
	S	Spar, spindle	s	Second of time
	SALM	Single Anchor Leg Mooring	SBM	Single Buoy Mooring
	Sc	Scanner	Sd	Sound
	SD	Sounding doubtful	SE	Southeast
	sec	Second of time	sf	Stiff
	sft	Soft	Sh	Shells
	Shl	Shoal	Si	Silt
	so	Soft	Sp	Spring tide
	SP	Spherical	Sp.	Spire
	Spipe	Standpipe	SPM	Single point mooring
	SS	Signal station	st	Stones
	stf	Stiff	stk	Sticky
	Str	Strait	Subm	Submerged
	Subm piles	Submerged piles	Subm ruins	Submerged ruins
	sy	Sticky	SW	Southwest




T

	T	True	t	Metric ton(s)
	Tel	Telephone, telegraph	Temp, temp	Temporary
	Tk	Tank	Tr, Tr., TR	Tower
	TT	Treetops	TV Mast	Television mast
	TV Tower	Television tower




U

	Uncov	Uncovers	UQ	Ultra quick




V

	v	Volcanic	var	Variation
	Vert	Vertically disposed	Vert Cl	Vertical clearance
	Vi	Violet	Vil	Village
	VLCC	Very large crude carrier	vol	Volcanic
	VQ	Very quick	V Qk Fl	Very quick flash




W

	W	West, western	W	White
	Wd	Weed	WGS	World Geodetic System
	Whf	Wharf	WHIS, Whis	Whistle
	Wk	Wreck




Y

	Y	Yellow