page_title: Caroline Island
section_title: Geography and climate
hierarchical_section_title: Caroline Island / Geography and climate
caption_attribution_description: English: Caroline Atoll (Kiribati), channel between west side of Long Island and Nake Island (in background) Français&#160;: Canal entre la côte ouest de l'ilôt Long et l'ilôt Nake (en arrière-plan) sur l'île du Millénaire (Kiribati)
context_page_description: Caroline Island, is the easternmost of the uninhabited coral atolls which comprise the southern Line Islands in the central Pacific Ocean of Kiribati.
  First sighted by Europeans in 1606, claimed by the United Kingdom in 1868, and part of the Republic of Kiribati since the island nation's independence in 1979, Caroline Island has remained relatively untouched and is considered one of the world's most pristine tropical islands, despite guano mining, copra harvesting, and human habitation in the 19th and 20th centuries. It is home to one of the world's largest populations of the coconut crab and is an important breeding site for seabirds, most notably the sooty tern.
  The atoll is currently designated as a wildlife sanctuary. In 2014 the Kiribati government established a 12-nautical-mile fishing exclusion zone around each of the southern Line Islands.
  The atoll is best known for being the first place on Earth to receive sunlight each day during much of the year, and for its role in the millennium celebrations. A 1995 realignment of the International Date Line made Caroline Island one of the first points of land on Earth to reach January 1, 2000 on the calendar.
context_section_description: Caroline Atoll lies near the southeastern end of the Line Islands, a string of atolls extending across the equator some 1,500 km (930 mi) south of the Hawaiian Islands in the central Pacific. The slightly crescent-shaped atoll (3.76 km² or 1.45 mi² in land area) consists of 39 separate islets surrounding a narrow lagoon, 8.7 by 1.2 km² in size, or with an area of 6.3 km². The total atoll area, including dry land, lagoon and reef flat, measures 13 by 2.5 km, or 24 km². The islets rise to a height of only 6 meters (20 feet) above sea level. The islets, like those of all atolls, share a common geologic origin and consist of sand deposits and limestone rock set atop a coral reef. According to the path of the International Date Line, Caroline Island is the easternmost point of land on Earth.
  Three large islets make up the bulk of Caroline's land area: Nake Islet (1.04 km² or 0.40 mi²) at the north; Long Islet (0.76 km² or 0.29 mi²) at the northeast of the lagoon and South Islet (1.07 km² or 0.41 mi²).
  The remaining assembly of small islets, most of which were named during the 1988 ecological survey, conducted by Angela and Cameron Kepler, fall into four major groupings: the South Nake Islets, the Central Leeward Islets, the Southern Leeward Islets, and the Windward Islets (see "map". Archived from the original on December 23, 2010. Retrieved March 14, 2009.). Caroline's islets are particularly ephemeral— over the course of a century of observation, several of the smallest islets have been documented to appear or disappear entirely following major storms, while the shapes of larger ones have significantly changed.
  The central lagoon, roughly 6 by 0.5 km (3.73 by 0.31 mi), is shallow – at most 5–7 m (16–23 ft) in depth – and is crossed repeatedly by narrow coral heads and patch reefs. Reef flats generally extend about 500 m (1,600 ft) from shore— although some sources report them to extend more than a kilometer from land— and make boat landings perilous except at high tide. There are no natural landings, anchorages, or deep water openings into the central lagoon; water which spills into the lagoon over shallow channels at high tide is contained within the surrounding reef and remains stable despite ocean tides. Most landings are generally made at a small break in the reef at the northeast corner of the South Islet (visible on the satellite photo above).
  Densities of giant clams reach up to four per square foot in parts of the lagoon. The most common species is the “small giant clam” Tridacna maxima and largest clam species, Tridacna gigas is also found in the lagoon.
  The lagoon is a nursery habitat for many fish species including important and heavily exploited species such as the Blacktip reef shark (Carcharhinus melanopterus) and the endangered Napoleon wrasse (Cheilinus undulatus).
  There is no standing fresh water on Caroline Island, although the Nake and South Islets harbor underground freshwater aquifers (or Ghyben-Herzberg lenses), and wells have been built to tap drinking water for temporary settlements. Soils on Caroline are similarly poor, dominated by coral gravel and sand, with significant organic content present only within stable, forested island centers. Guano deposits make island soil, where it does exist, nitrogen-rich; but even in the oldest and most vegetated regions of the atoll, soils are only a few centimeters (one or two inches) thick.
  Like the rest of Kiribati, Caroline Island enjoys a tropical maritime climate which is consistently hot and humid. Meteorological records are sparse, but temperatures generally range between 28 and 32 degrees Celsius (82 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit) year round. Caroline lies within a region of highly variable precipitation, but is estimated to receive an average of 1,500 mm (59 in) of rain annually. Tides are on the order of 0.5 m (1.6 ft) and trade winds, generally from the northeast, mean that corner of the island experiences the roughest seas.
  Caroline Island is among the most remote islands on earth–230 km (140 mi) from the closest land at Flint Island, 1,500 km (930 mi) f
caption: The many islets of Caroline Island are separated by shallow channels. In the foreground: coral rubble beach and Tournefortia shrub on Long Islet. In the background: Pisonia forest and a row of non-indigenous coconut palms on Nake Islet.
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