Suwarrow
- ISS004-E-13343
- 19 April 2002
- time unknown
Southernmost of the Northern Group, Suwarrow is located 950 km northwest from Rarotonga and 305 km southeast from the small island of Nassau.
The atoll consists of a broad reef rim of up to 800 m in width that almost completely encloses a large and deep central lagoon. Scattered around the outer reef are located around 40 small motu — none more than 0.1 km² in size — the largest islets being located on the western and northern sides of the atoll. The islets of Suwarrow have a combined area of just 1.68 km², making it the second smallest member of the Cook Islands in terms of land area after Takutea. The lagoon has numerous patch reefs and a major opening on the north between Anchorage Island and the Gull Islands.
Suwarrow is the first and only national park to have been created in the Cook Islands — being dedicated in 1978. The atoll is one of the Cook Islands major seabird breeding sites and has a regionally important population of the terrestrial Coconut Crab (Birgus latro).
image: earth sciences and image analysis laboratory, nasa johnson space center
