Jarvis Island
- ISS002-E-6882
- 16 June 2001
- 23:07 UTC
Jarvis Island lies just south of the equator, being a member of the central group of islands — although it lies a considerable distance westwards from the main northwest-southeast trending chain of the Line Islands. Jarvis Island is located 350 km southwest from Kiritimati (see panoramic image), forming an unincorporated territory of the US that is managed from Honolulu (2,100 km to the north) as the Jarvis Island National Wildlife Refuge.
The 4.4 km² island rises from sea level to a beach crest — reaching an elevation of 7-8 m in the west — before descending to an interior depression, some areas of which are at sea level. It is ringed by a narrow fringing reef with an extensive shallow reef platform extending to the east (at top in theimage). The climate is dry, supporting an extremely sparse vegetation of grasses, vines and low shrubs. The island supports one of the worlds largest colonies of Sooty Terns (Sterna fuscata), with an estimated 1 million individuals using the island.
