"text":"<p>Oceania</p><p><strong>Baker Island:</strong> atoll in the North Pacific Ocean 3,390 km southwest of Honolulu, about halfway between Hawaii and Australia; </p><p><strong>Howland Island:</strong> island in the North Pacific Ocean 3,360 km southwest of Honolulu, about halfway between Hawaii and Australia; </p><p><strong>Jarvis Island:</strong> island in the South Pacific Ocean 2,415 km south of Honolulu, about halfway between Hawaii and Cook Islands; </p><p><strong>Johnston Atoll:</strong> atoll in the North Pacific Ocean 1,330 km southwest of Honolulu, about one-third of the way from Hawaii to the Marshall Islands; </p><p><strong>Kingman Reef:</strong> reef in the North Pacific Ocean 1,720 km south of Honolulu, about halfway between Hawaii and American Samoa; </p><p><strong>Midway Islands:</strong> atoll in the North Pacific Ocean 2,335 km northwest of Honolulu near the end of the Hawaiian Archipelago, about one-third of the way from Honolulu to Tokyo; </p><p><strong>Palmyra Atoll:</strong> atoll in the North Pacific Ocean 1,780 km south of Honolulu, about halfway between Hawaii and American Samoa</p>"
"text":"<p><strong>Baker Island:</strong> about 2.5 times the size of the National Mall in Washington, DC; </p><p><strong>Howland Island:</strong> about three times the size of the National Mall in Washington, DC; </p><p><strong>Jarvis Island:</strong> about eight times the size of the National Mall in Washington, DC; </p><p><strong>Johnston Atoll:</strong> about 4.5 times the size of the National Mall in Washington, DC; </p><p><strong>Kingman Reef:</strong> a little more than 1.5 times the size of the National Mall in Washington, DC; </p><p><strong>Midway Islands:</strong> about nine times the size of the National Mall in Washington, DC; </p><p><strong>Palmyra Atoll:</strong> about 20 times the size of the National Mall in Washington, DC</p>"
"text":"<p><strong>Baker, Howland, and Jarvis Islands:</strong> equatorial; scant rainfall, constant wind, burning sun; </p><p><strong>Johnston Atoll and Kingman Reef:</strong> tropical, but generally dry; consistent northeast trade winds with little seasonal temperature variation; </p><p><strong>Midway Islands:</strong> subtropical with cool, moist winters (December to February) and warm, dry summers (May to October); moderated by prevailing easterly winds; most of the 107 cm of annual rainfall occurs during the winter; </p><p><strong>Palmyra Atoll:</strong> equatorial, hot; located within the low pressure area of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) where the northeast and southeast trade winds meet, it is extremely wet with between 400-500 cm of rainfall each year</p>"
"text":"low and nearly flat sandy coral islands with narrow fringing reefs that have developed at the top of submerged volcanic mountains, which in most cases rise steeply from the ocean floor"
"text":"Baker Island, unnamed location 8 m; Howland Island, unnamed location 3 m; Jarvis Island, unnamed location 7 m; Johnston Atoll, Sand Island 10 m; Kingman Reef, unnamed location 2 m; Midway Islands, unnamed location less than 13 m; Palmyra Atoll, unnamed location 3 m"
"text":"<p><strong>Baker, Howland, and Jarvis Islands:</strong> the narrow fringing reef surrounding the island poses a maritime hazard; </p><p><strong>Kingman Reef:</strong> wet or awash most of the time, maximum elevation of less than 2 m makes Kingman Reef a maritime hazard; </p><p><strong>Midway Islands, Johnston, and Palmyra Atolls:</strong> NA</p>"
"text":"<p><strong>Baker, Howland, and Jarvis Islands:</strong> scattered vegetation consisting of grasses, prostrate vines, and low growing shrubs; primarily a nesting, roosting, and foraging habitat for seabirds, shorebirds, and marine wildlife; closed to the public; </p><p><strong>Johnston Atoll:</strong> Johnston Island and Sand Island are natural islands, which have been expanded by coral dredging; North Island (Akau) and East Island (Hikina) are manmade islands formed from coral dredging; the egg-shaped reef is 34 km in circumference; closed to the public; </p><p><strong>Kingman Reef:</strong> barren coral atoll with deep interior lagoon; closed to the public; </p><p><strong>Midway Islands:</strong> a coral atoll managed as a National Wildlife Refuge and open to the public for wildlife-related recreation in the form of wildlife observation and photography; </p><p><strong>Palmyra Atoll:</strong> the high rainfall and resulting lush vegetation make the environment of this atoll unique among the US Pacific Island territories; supports a large undisturbed stand of Pisonia beach forest</p>"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> public entry is only by special-use permit from US Fish and Wildlife Service and generally restricted to scientists and educators; visited annually by US Fish and Wildlife Service <br><br><strong>Jarvis Island:</strong> 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; currently unoccupied <br><br><strong>Johnston Atoll:</strong> in previous years, an average of 1,100 US military and civilian contractor personnel were present; as of May 2005, all US Government personnel had left the island <br><br><strong>Midway Islands:</strong> approximately 40 people make up the staff of US Fish and Wildlife Service and their services contractor living at the atoll <br><br><strong>Palmyra Atoll:</strong> four to 20 Nature Conservancy, US Fish and Wildlife staff, and researchers"
"text":"<p><strong>Baker Island: </strong>no natural freshwater resources; feral cats, introduced in 1937 during a short-lived colonization effort, ravaged the avian population and were eradicated in 1965<br><strong><br>Howland Island: </strong>no natural freshwater resources; the island habitat has suffered from invasive exotic species; black rats, introduced in 1854, were eradicated by feral cats within a year of their introduction in 1937; the cats preyed on the bird population and were eliminated by 1985<br><br><strong>Jarvis Island</strong><strong>:</strong> no natural freshwater resources; feral cats, introduced in the 1930s during a short-lived colonization venture, were not completely removed until 1990<br><strong><br>Johnston Atoll: </strong>no natural freshwater resources; the seven decades under US military administration (1934-2004) left the atoll environmentally degraded and required large-scale remediation efforts; a swarm of Anoplolepis (crazy) ants invaded the island in 2010 damaging native wildlife; eradication has been largely, but not completely, successful<br><strong><br>Midway Islands:</strong> many exotic species introduced, 75% of the roughly 200 plant species on the island are non-native; plastic pollution harms wildlife, via entanglement, ingestion, and toxic contamination</p> <p><strong>Kingman Reef:</strong> none<br><br><strong>Palmyra Atoll:</strong> black rats, believed to have been introduced to the atoll during the US military occupation of the 1940s, severely degraded the ecosystem outcompeting native species (seabirds, crabs); following a successful rat removal project in 2011, native flora and fauna have begun to recover</p>"
"text":"<p><strong>Baker, Howland, and Jarvis Islands:</strong> equatorial; scant rainfall, constant wind, burning sun; </p><p><strong>Johnston Atoll and Kingman Reef:</strong> tropical, but generally dry; consistent northeast trade winds with little seasonal temperature variation; </p><p><strong>Midway Islands:</strong> subtropical with cool, moist winters (December to February) and warm, dry summers (May to October); moderated by prevailing easterly winds; most of the 107 cm of annual rainfall occurs during the winter; </p><p><strong>Palmyra Atoll:</strong> equatorial, hot; located within the low pressure area of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) where the northeast and southeast trade winds meet, it is extremely wet with between 400-500 cm of rainfall each year</p>"
"text":"with the exception of Palmyra Atoll, the constituent islands are unincorporated, unorganized territories of the US; administered from Washington, DC, by the Fish and Wildlife Service of the US Department of the Interior as part of the National Wildlife Refuge System",
"note":"<strong>note:</strong>Palmyra Atollis partly privately owned and partly federally owned;the federally owned portion is administered from Washington, DC, by the Fish and Wildlife Service of the US Department of the Interior as an incorporated, unorganized territory of the US; the Office of Insular Affairs of the US Department of the Interior continues to administer nine excluded areas comprising certain tidal and submerged lands within the 12 nm territorial sea or within the lagoon"
