A hectometer is a unit of linear measurement equal to 100 meters, rarely used but with a derived unit, the hectare, commonly used for area. The cubic hectometer is used for volumetric measurements of large amounts of water or solid volumes.
A hectometre (hm), or hectometer as it is usually written in countries other than the United States, is a unit of linear measurement that is part of the International System of Units (SI), which is derived from the original metric system. The hectometer is equal to 100 meters and is rarely used as a unit, although derivatives of it are sometimes used, particularly the hectare, which is a unit of area. The cubic hectometer is sometimes used as a unit of volumetric measurement, particularly when referring to large amounts of standing or flowing water, such as reservoirs or rivers.
The term “hectometre”, like most units of the SI system, is a compound word formed by a base, in this case “metre”, and a prefix, “hectometre”. The prefix “hecto” is used to mean 102, which means 100. So a hectometer is 102 meters or 100 yards. In modern times, this unit has fallen out of common use, as the meter itself is more often used for measurements of smaller distances, and the kilometer is generally used for longer distances. A hectometer is a tenth of a kilometer and is more likely to be called exactly that than a hectometre.
For measurements of area, however, the hectometer has a derived unit, the hectare, which is still in common use. A hectare is a square hectometer, or a square 100 meters long on each side. This unit of area is often employed when discussing the size of various geographical divisions, such as the area of a body of water or the size of a field or other piece of land. Even in the United States, which still relies heavily on the older standard or English system, hectares are sometimes used to describe land or open water area, although the acre is still more common as a unit.
The cubic hectometer (hm3) is sometimes used as a unit of volume, usually when describing large quantities of liquid, such as the total volume of a lake or other body of water. It is also sometimes used to describe the flow of rivers. A cube the hectometer is a cube of 100 meters on a side and is equal to one million cubic meters, however it is not necessarily limited to describing the liquid volume and can be equally correctly applied to solid volumes as well.
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