French Frigate Shoals

The French Frigate Shoals (Hawaiian: Kānemilohai ) is an American island in the State of Hawaii, United States. French Frigate Shoals is the largest atoll of the diameter ago Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. It is located in the Pacific Ocean about 850 kilometers northwest of Oahu.

Geography

The open to the west and southwest Atoll has a diameter of up to 37 kilometers. It consists of twelve small, sandy islands, which lie mainly in the north of the atoll and are surrounded by a 30 km-long, crescent-shaped coral reef. In the center of the atoll, the 36 m high and steep from the lagoon outstanding La Perouse Pinnacle, a remnant of the former and now almost completely submerged volcano is located. The total land area of ​​all islands of the atoll is only 0.25 km ² ( 248,914 m² ), of which about half ( 105 276 m²) on the largest island, Tern Iceland in the north of French Frigate Shoals (at 23 ° 52 'N, 166 ° 17 ' W23.869166666667 - 166.28166666667 ) is eliminated. The nearest islands are Necker Iceland, about 160 km to the southeast, and the Gardner Pinnacles, which are located about 230 km to the northwest. French Frigate Shoals and between the Gardner Pinnacles are some seamounts, such as the Brooks Bank or the St. Rogatien Bank.

Islands

The islands are listed clockwise starting in the north- west, and the bit off the west location La Perouse Pinnacle at the end:

! 523.8527505333.676028523 ° 51 'N, 166 ° 19' W23.85275 - 166.32397222222

! 523.8696395333.715389523 ° 52 'N, 166 ° 17' W23.869638888889 - 166.28461111111

! 523.8716115333.756694523 ° 52 'N, 166 ° 15' W23.871611111111 - 166.24330555556

! 523.8674445333.768361523 ° 52 'N, 166 ° 14' W23.867444444444 - 166.23163888889

! 523.8672225333.769139523 ° 52 'N, 166 ° 14' W23.867222222222 - 166.23086111111

! 523.6443065333.828944523 ° 39 'N, 166 ° 10' W23.644305555556 - 166.17105555556

! 523.7287785333.835972523 ° 44 'N, 166 ° 10' W23.728777777778 - 166.16402777778

! 523.7345285333.834417523 ° 44 'N, 166 ° 10' W23.734527777778 - 166.16558333333

! 523.7925695333.798403523 ° 48 'N, 166 ° 12' W23.792569444444 - 166.20159722222

! 523.7868065333.790889523 ° 47 'N, 166 ° 13' W23.786805555556 - 166.20911111111

! 523.8248065333.775139523 ° 49 'N, 166 ° 13' W23.824805555556 - 166.22486111111

! 523.8266675333.770528523 ° 50 'N, 166 ° 14' W23.826666666667 - 166.22947222222

! 523.7855565333.787222523 ° 47 'N, 166 ° 13' W23.785555555556 - 166.2127777777836

1) Skate Whale Iceland currently has a double island and is also detected in the census documents together as a block, with an area of ​​32020 square meters. The Shares of the islands are estimated (40 and 60 percent).

2 ) 1971 has been reported that in near Iceland, although recorded on maps, would be submerged at high tide.

3) Bare Iceland can be seen on satellite images yet, in Census Tract but not (more) listed. In a publication from 1971 an area of ​​0.1 acres ( about 400 m²] is specified for bare Iceland.

4) Mullet Iceland and Iceland Round detected in census documents together as a block 1006, with an area of ​​5540 m² together. The shares are valued according to a report from 1971 ( 0.4 and 0.5 acres).

History

The islands were sighted on November 6, 1786 by the French explorer Jean -François de La Pérouse and called by him the Basse Fregates Françaises because almost his two frigates Boussole and Astrolabe would be stranded on the reef.

On 14 January 1859, the French Frigate Shoals were taken, citing the Guano Islands Act for the United States in possession. In contrast to the island of Laysan, however, the degradation of guano was not profitable, so that the human intervention in nature were only a minor degree. On February 3, 1909, the atoll portion of the Hawaiian Islands Bird Reservation and in 2006 part of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monuments was.

During World War II, the islands were of great importance because of its location halfway from Hawaii to the Midway Islands. So an airstrip was built on Tern Iceland after the Battle of Midway, which still exists today. The facilities on Tern Iceland today are administered by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.

Wildlife ( fauna)

The islands are one of the most important refuges for rare species in the northwest of Hawaii, for example, for the Hawaiian monk seal (Monachus schauinslandi ). About 90 % of the Hawaiian green turtle population ( Chelonia mydas) migrate to propagate French Frigate Shoals to.

• Wildlife

Seevögelkolonie Tern Iceland

Stony coral of the genus Acropora

Flying Sooty Tern

The islands are also an important colony for seabirds is: To breed here, among other Laysan Albatross ( Phoebastria immutabilis ) Schwarzfußalbatros ( Phoebastria nigripes ), Brown Booby (Sula leucogaster ), Great Frigatebird ( Fregata minor), and various types terns as the Fairy Tern ( Gygis alba).

The coral reefs of the atolls are home to 41 species stony corals ( Scleractinia ), including species of the genus Acropora, which occur nowhere else in Hawaii. So even come here fish such as the ripple Butterflyfish (Chaetodon trifasciatus ), which are dependent on polyp stony corals of this genus. In addition, other types of butterfly fish come, like the Common pennants (Heniochus acuminatus ) and surgeonfish ( Acanthuridae ) ago. Just outside the reefs occur among the Grey Reef Shark other ( Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos ) or the mask Lyrakaiserfisch ( Genicanthus personatus ).

An expedition of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ( NOAA) to the French Frigate Shoals in October 2006, in just three weeks, more than 100 new species, or new to Hawaii, discovered.