Kure Atoll
- ISS006-E-29046
- 17 February 2003
- 20:52 UTC
Kure Atoll is the westernmost of all the islands in the Hawaiian Archipelago, lying 2,451 km northwest from Cape Kumukahi on the east coast of the island of Hawaii (the archipelago's eastern-most point). Its nearest neighbour in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands is Midway Atoll, 91 km to southeast. Kure is also the northernmost of the islands and lies further from the equator than any other shallow-water coral reef ecosystem on Earth. The atoll, about 10 km across, consists of a circular reef crest enclosing a large, sandy-bottomed lagoon with a large opening to the southwest.
Green Island — with an area of 0.862 km² — is the only significant landmass at Kure, located in the southeast corner of the atoll. The island rises from the shore dunes to a low and flat interior, that is thickly vegetated with Heliotrope trees (Tournefortia argentea), Naupaka shrubs (Scaevola sericea), patches of Golden crown-beard (Verbesina encelioides), a few groves of Ironwood (Casuarina equisetifolia) and numerous introduced weed species. On the south-side of the island is a 1,200 m long coral-paved runway constructed in the 1950's as part of a US Coast Guard installation. To the west of Green Island are a chain of small elongated sandbars collectively known as Sand Island.
The cooler waters found this far north have resulted in Kure being a unique ecosystem, with a diverse range of stony corals and prolific fish life. Its 300+ km² of reef habitat supports important populations of Hawaiian Monk seals, dolphins, and on land, nesting areas for shearwaters, petrels, tropicbirds, boobies, frigatebirds, albatrosses, terns and noddies.
Kure Atoll is currently managed by the Hawai'i Department of Land and Natural Resources as a state wildlife refuge.
