Jarvis Island (territory of the US)


 See regional map X



Geography


Total area: 4.5 km²; land area: 4.5 km²

Comparative area: about 7.5 times the size of The Mall in Washington, DC

Land boundaries: none

Coastline: 8 km

Maritime claims:

Contiguous zone: 12 nm
Continental shelf: 200 m
Extended economic zone: 200 nm
Territorial sea: 12 nm

Climate: tropical; scant rainfall, constant wind, burning sun

Terrain: sandy, coral island surrounded by a narrow fringing reef

Natural resources: guano (deposits worked until late 1800s)

Land use: 0% arable land; 0% permanent crops; 0% meadows and pastures; 0% forest and woodland; 100% other

Environment: sparse bunch grass, prostrate vines, and low-growing shrubs; lacks fresh water; primarily a nesting, roosting, and foraging habitat for seabirds, shorebirds, and marine wildlife; feral cats

Note: 2,090 km south of Honolulu in the South Pacific Ocean, just south of the Equator, about halfway between Hawaii and the Cook Islands


People


Population: uninhabited

Note: Millersville settlement on western side of island occasionally used as a weather station from 1935 until World War II, when it was abandoned; reoccupied in 1957 during the International Geophysical Year by scientists who left in 1958; public entry is by special-use permit only and generally restricted to scientists and educators


Government


Long-form name: none (territory of the US)

Type: unincorporated territory of the US administered by the Fish and Wildlife Service of the US Department of the Interior as part of the National Wildlife Refuge System


Economy


Overview: no economic activity


Communications


Ports: none; offshore anchorage only one boat landing area in the middle of the west coast and another near the southwest corner of the island

Note: there is a day beacon near the middle of the west coast


Defense Forces


Note: defense is the responsibility of the US; visited annually by the US Coast Guard