Geography of Tuvalu

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

To meet Wikipedia's quality standards, this article may require rewriting and/or reformatting. The current version of the article was imported from the CIA World Factbook. Please discuss this issue on the talk page. Editing help is available.

The Western Pacific nation of Tuvalu, formerly known as the Ellice Islands, is situated 4,000 kilometers (2,486 miles) northeast of Australia. It is one half of the way from Hawaii to Australia. Tuvalu consists of four reef islands and five true atolls (see Islands of Tuvalu). Its small scattered group of atolls has poor soil and a total land area of only about 26 km². (less than 10 sq mi (30 km²).).

Tuvalu has westerly gales and heavy rain from November to March and tropical temperatures moderated by easterly winds from March-November. The land is very low lying with narrow coral atolls. The highest elevation is five meters above the sea level.

Location: Oceania, island group consisting of nine coral atolls in the South Pacific Ocean, about one-half of the way from Hawaii to Australia.

Geographic coordinates: 8°00′S, 178°00′E

Map references: Oceania

Area:
total: 26 km²
land: 26 km²
water: 0 km²

Area - comparative: 0.1 times the size of Washington, DC

Land boundaries: 0 km

Coastline: 24 km

Maritime claims:
contiguous zone: 24 nmi (44 km)
exclusive economic zone: 200 nmi (370 km)
territorial sea: 12 nmi (22 km)

Climate: tropical; moderated by easterly trade winds (March to November); westerly gales and heavy rain (November to March)

Terrain: very low-lying and narrow coral atolls

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m
highest point: unnamed location 5 m

Natural resources: fish

Land use:
arable land: 0%
permanent crops: 0%
permanent pastures: 0%
forests and woodland: 0%
other: 100% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land: NA km²

Natural hazards: severe tropical storms are usually rare, but, in 1997, there were three cyclones; low-level of islands make them very sensitive to sea-level rise

Environment - current issues: since there are no streams or rivers and groundwater is not potable, most water needs must be met by catchment systems with storage facilities (the Japanese Government has built one desalination plant and plans to build one other); beachhead erosion because of the use of sand for building materials; excessive clearance of forest undergrowth for use as fuel; damage to coral reefs from the spread of the Crown of Thorns starfish; Tuvalu is very concerned about global increases in greenhouse gas emissions and their effect on rising sea levels, which threaten the country's underground water table

Environment - international agreements:
party to: Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution.
signed, but not ratified: Biodiversity

[edit] See also

• Tuvalu
• Islands of Tuvalu

v • d • e Geography of Oceania  Australasia Australia · Christmas Island · Cocos (Keeling) Islands · New Zealand1 · Norfolk Island   Melanesia East Timor2 · Fiji · New Caledonia · Papua New Guinea3 · Solomon Islands · Vanuatu  Micronesia Federated States of Micronesia · Guam · Kiribati · Marshall Islands · Nauru · Northern Mariana Islands · Palau   Polynesia American Samoa · Cook Islands · French Polynesia · Niue · Pitcairn Islands · Samoa · Tokelau · Tonga · Tuvalu · Wallis and Futuna 1 Often included in Polynesia.  2 Often included in Southeast Asia.  3 Often included in Australasia.