Minami-Torishima
The Minami- Torishima (南 鸟岛Japanese, literally: " Southern Bird Island " ), Marcus Island (Marcus Iceland ) called, is a Japanese coral island in the Pacific Ocean.
Geography
Minami- Torishima has a triangular shape and is about 1.51 km ². It is the eastern part of Japan, about 1848 km east of Tokyo located. The next island is Farallon de Pajaros of the Northern Mariana Islands, 1021 km south located.
The island is flat and barely covered, the highest point is 18 m high. A large part of the surface is covered with scrap metal and concrete structures from the Second World War. Today there is a weather station, the 213 m high LORAN-C transmitter mast Minami- Torishima (until 1985 was the mast with 411.48 m height of the tallest structures in Japan) and a runway with a non-directional beacon.
The best anchorage is south at a depth of 60 m, 0.25 Nm away. A 20 m long Bootsanlegerpier located inside the reef.
Administratively, it belongs to the municipality of Ogasawara and the Ogasawara Islands and thus to the prefecture of Tokyo.
Climate
All year reign easterly winds ago with about 14 Kn, somewhat weaker in summer. The average temperature is 26 ° C, there were numbers from 16 to 36 degrees measured. It rains regularly, but only about 1000 mm per year. In September and October there may be fog.
There are always earthquakes in the region - most recently on New Year's Day 2012 with a magnitude of 7.0.
History
An amendment adopted for the 1694 initial review by Andrés de Arriola can not be proved. 1864, the island of the Morning Star was spotted under Captain Charles W. Gelett, 1874 by the American research vessel USS Tuscarora under Captain Belknap.
The first landing on the (probably by then uninhabited ) island was in 1879 by the Japanese under the direction of Kiozaemon Saito instead. 1884 certain French warship ECLAIREUR the current position.
On December 3, 1896 Shinroku Mizutani explored the island and decided there dismantle guano. He returned on 28 December with 23 workers to Minami Torishima - back. On July 19, 1898 Japan took possession of the island.
During the Second World War, more than 4,000 Japanese soldiers were stationed on the island. 1942 and 1943, the island was attacked by U.S. aircraft carrier battle groups, but initially not occupied. 1945, the island was occupied by U.S. troops.
In 1964 the United States Coast Guard the LORAN-C transmitter mast Minami- Torishima in operation. In 1968 the island was returned to Japan. The Coast Guard in 1994 handed their Loran-C station on a Japanese unit.
Economic Importance
Japanese geologists have found in 2012 in front of the island in about 5800 m water depth, a major reservoir of rare earths, which is estimated according to initial reports, to 6.8 million tons and would approximate calculations, sufficient to supply the Japanese industry for the next 230 years.