 | |
| Continent | Pacific Ocean |
|---|---|
| Region | Western Pacific |
| Coordinates | 5°41′S 176°12′E / 5.683°S 176.200°E |
| Area | Ranked 191st |
| • Total | 26.26 km2 (10.14 sq mi) |
| • Land | 100% |
| • Water | 0% |
| Coastline | 24.14 km (15.00 mi) |
| Borders | None |
| Highest point | Niulakita 4.6 metres (15 ft) |
| Lowest point | Pacific Ocean 0 metres (0 ft) |
| Exclusive economic zone | 749,790 km2 (289,500 sq mi) |
The Western Pacific nation of Tuvalu, formerly known as the Ellice Islands, is situated 4,000 kilometers (2,500 mi) northeast of Australia and is approximately halfway between Hawaii and Australia. It lies east-northeast of the Santa Cruz Islands (belonging to the Solomons), southeast of Nauru, south of Kiribati, west of Tokelau, northwest of Samoa and Wallis and Futuna and north of Fiji. It is a very small island country of 26.26 km2 (10.14 sq mi). Due to the spread out islands it has the 38th largest Exclusive Economic Zone of 749,790 km2 (289,500 sq mi). In terms of size, it is the second-smallest country in Oceania.[1]
The islands of Tuvalu consists of three reef islands and six atolls, containing approximately 710 km2 (270 sq mi) of reef platforms.[2] The reef islands have a different structure to the atolls, and are described as reef platforms as they are smaller tabular reef platforms that do not have a salt-water lagoon,[3] although they have a completely closed rim of dry land, with the remnants of a lagoon that has no connection to the open sea or that may be drying up.[4] For example, Niutao has two lakes, which are brackish to saline; and are the degraded lagoon as the result of coral debris filling the lagoon.
The soils of Tuvalu's islands are usually shallow, porous, alkaline, coarse-textured, with carbonate mineralogy and high pH values of up to 8.2 to 8.9.[5] The soils are usually deficient in most of the important nutrients needed for plant growth (e.g., nitrogen, potassium and micronutrients such as iron, manganese, copper and zinc), so garden beds need to be enhanced with mulch and fertiliser to increase their fertility.[5] The Tuvalu islands have a total land area of only about 26 km2, less than 10 sq mi (30 km2).
The land is very low-lying, with narrow coral atolls. The highest elevation is 4.6 metres (15 ft) above sea level on Niulakita. Over 4 decades, there had been a net increase in land area of the islets of 73.5 ha (2.9%), although the changes are not uniform, with 74% increasing and 27% decreasing in size. The sea level at the Funafuti tide gauge has risen at 3.9 mm per year, which is approximately twice the global average.[6] The rising sea levels are identified as creating an increased transfer of wave energy across reef surfaces, which shifts sand, resulting in accretion to island shorelines,[7] although this process does not result in additional habitable land.[8] As of March 2018 Enele Sopoaga, the prime minister of Tuvalu, stated that Tuvalu is not expanding and has gained no additional habitable land.[8]
Tuvalu experiences two distinct seasons, a wet season from November to April and a dry season from May to October.[9] Westerly gales and heavy rain are the predominant weather conditions from November to April, the period that is known as Tau-o-lalo, with tropical temperatures moderated by easterly winds from May to October.
- ^ Rodgers, K. A., and Carol Cantrell. The biology and geology of Tuvalu: an annotated bibliography. No. 1. Australian Museum, 1988.
- ^ Morris, C., & Mackay, K. (2008). Status of coral reefs in the Southwest Pacific: Fiji, Nauru, New Caledonia, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and Vanuatu (Report). Status of coral reefs of the world (Townsville: Australian Institute of Marine Science). pp. 177–188.
{{cite report}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Paul S. Kench, Murray R. Ford & Susan D. Owen (9 February 2018). "Patterns of island change and persistence offer alternate adaptation pathways for atoll nations (Supplementary Note 1)". Nature Communications. 9 (1): 605. Bibcode:2018NatCo...9..605K. doi:10.1038/s41467-018-02954-1. PMC 5807422. PMID 29426825.
- ^ Hedley, Charles (1896). "General account of the Atoll of Funafuti" (PDF). Australian Museum Memoir. 3 (2): 1–72. doi:10.3853/j.0067-1967.3.1896.487. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 October 2013. Retrieved 29 September 2013.
- ^ a b "Tuvalu Fifth National Report to the Convention on Biological Diversity". Government of Tuvalu. 2016. Retrieved 11 November 2023.
- ^ Paul S. Kench, Murray R. Ford & Susan D. Owen (9 February 2018). "Patterns of island change and persistence offer alternate adaptation pathways for atoll nations (Supplementary Note 2)". Nature Communications. 9 (1): 605. Bibcode:2018NatCo...9..605K. doi:10.1038/s41467-018-02954-1. PMC 5807422. PMID 29426825.
- ^ Paul S. Kench, Murray R. Ford & Susan D. Owen (9 February 2018). "Patterns of island change and persistence offer alternate adaptation pathways for atoll nations". Nature Communications. 9 (1): 605. Bibcode:2018NatCo...9..605K. doi:10.1038/s41467-018-02954-1. PMC 5807422. PMID 29426825.
- ^ a b "TUVALU PM REFUTES AUT RESEARCH". 19 March 2018. Archived from the original on 26 March 2019. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
- ^ "Current and Future Climate of Tuvalu" (PDF). Tuvalu Meteorological Service, Australian Bureau of Meteorology & Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). 2011. Retrieved 7 September 2015.