Jarvis Island

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Jarvis Island
Jarvis Island (NASA astronaut photo)
Jarvis Island (NASA astronaut photo)
Waters Pacific Ocean
Archipelago Line Islands
Geographical location 0 ° 22 ′ 13 ″  S , 159 ° 59 ′ 48 ″  W Coordinates: 0 ° 22 ′ 13 ″  S , 159 ° 59 ′ 48 ″  W
Location of Jarvis Island
length 2.9 km
width 1.7 km
surface 5.2 km²
Highest elevation 7  m
Residents uninhabited
main place Millersville ( historic )
Map of the island
Map of the island

The Jarvis Island ( English Jarvis Island , [ ˈdʒɑrvɨs ]) is a geographically to the Line Islands and politically to the outer areas of the United States belonging small, uninhabited island in the southern Pacific , roughly in the middle between Hawaii and the Cook Islands . It is a so-called "non-incorporated territory" of the United States , which is assigned to the United States Minor Outlying Islands for statistical purposes .

The sandy island , completely fringed by a coral reef, has a land area of ​​about 5.2 km² and reaches a height of up to 7  m above sea level. The Jarvis Island has a tropical climate with rare rain, constant wind and strong sunlight. The island has no natural fresh water sources.

history

Jarvis coast

Jarvis Island was discovered on August 21, 1821 by the crew of the British ship Eliza Francis and got its name from its captain Brown. In February 1857 it was claimed for the USA and formally annexed on February 27, 1858 with reference to the Guano Islands Act , but abandoned again in 1879 after approximately 300,000 tons of guano had been mined.

Great Britain annexed the land on June 3, 1889, but took no further steps to use or colonize it. The guano deposits were mined until the end of the 19th century.

In 1935 the island was claimed by the USA as uninhabited territory and settled from March 26 under the Baker, Howland and Jarvis Colonization Scheme . The colonists founded the Millersville settlement in the west of the island, which was evacuated in February 1942 due to the war in the Pacific. No further attempts at colonization were made after the end of the war.

In 1957, with the beginning of the International Geophysical Year , the Jarvis Island was settled by scientists for some time and even had its own local administration until 1958.

From May 13, 1936 to June 27, 1974 the administration of the island was incumbent on the US Department of the Interior. Jarvis Island has been managed by the US Fish & Wildlife Service as Jarvis Island National Wildlife Refuge since June 27, 1974 and, together with six other American islands in the Pacific, has formed the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument since January 6, 2009 . Entering the now uninhabited island requires a special permit and is generally only permitted for scientific and educational purposes. Jarvis is visited by US Fish & Wildlife Service personnel every two to three years.

Flora and fauna

The flora of the Jarvis Island is characterized by species poverty, as only heat and drought-resistant species can survive here. The vegetation consists of grasses , herbaceous plants and shrubs .

After animal species such as domestic cats, rats, mice and goats introduced by humans caused severe damage to the Jarvis Island ecosystem , the number of breeding birds fell sharply. In 1966, only three breeding bird species were counted on the island. Measures to eradicate these neozoa enabled the original fauna to gain a foothold again on the Jarvis Island. 14 different species of birds are now breeding on the island. The sooty tern has a particularly high population with around one million individual animals.

The coral reef around the island is home to numerous species of fish . The US Fish & Wildlife Service assumes 252 species native to Jarvis Island. The population density of larger fish species is only exceeded by the Palmyra atoll, which is also located in the central Pacific .

The reef around Jarvis Island remained largely unexplored until the year 2000. In the meantime, 62 types of coral (including 59 types of hard corals ) and around 90 types of mollusks have been identified. During dives, an extremely diverse fauna with numerous corals could be discovered on the west side of Jarvis Island at depths of 200 to 1000 meters.

Web links

Commons : Jarvis Island  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikimedia Atlas: Jarvis Island  - geographical and historical maps

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Don Palawski: Jarvis Island National Wildlife Refuge: Comprehensive Conservation Plan . National Wildlife Refuge Complex, 2008, Chapter 3: Goals, Objectives, Strategies, and Rationale - Goal 1 , p. 27 (English, accessible online at Data.gov [PDF; 1.1 MB ]).
  2. ↑ Don Palawski: Jarvis Island National Wildlife Refuge: Comprehensive Conservation Plan . National Wildlife Refuge Complex, 2008, Chapter 4: Cultural History - Guano Mining Era , p. 53 (English, accessible online at Data.gov [PDF; 1.1 MB ]).
  3. ^ US Unincorporated Possessions. Jarvis Island. In: World Statesmen.org. Retrieved May 28, 2017 (English).
  4. ↑ a b About the Refuge. In: Jarvis Island National Wildlife Refuge. United States Fish and Wildlife Service , accessed May 28, 2017 .
  5. ↑ Wildlife & Habitat. Iceland Habitat section . In: Jarvis Island National Wildlife Refuge. United States Fish and Wildlife Service , accessed May 28, 2017 .
  6. ↑ Wildlife & Habitat. Section Birds . In: Jarvis Island National Wildlife Refuge. United States Fish and Wildlife Service , accessed May 28, 2017 .
  7. ↑ Wildlife & Habitat. Fish section . In: Jarvis Island National Wildlife Refuge. United States Fish and Wildlife Service , accessed May 28, 2017 .
  8. ↑ Marine Habitat. Corals section . In: Jarvis Island National Wildlife Refuge. United States Fish and Wildlife Service , accessed May 28, 2017 .