Monument Features


Physical Features

This image of the Pacific Ocean was produced using sea surface height measurements taken by the U.S./French TOPEX/Poseidon satellite. The image shows sea surface height relative to normal ocean conditions on Dec. 1, 1997. In this image, the white and red areas indicate unusual patterns of heat storage; in the white areas, the sea surface is between 14 and 32 centimeters (6 to 13 inches) above normal; in the red areas, it's about 10 centimeters (4 inches) above normal. The green areas indicate normal conditions, while purple (the western Pacific) means at least 18 centimeters (7 inches) below normal sea level.

Ocean Productivity
In the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands ocean productivity has been linked to large scale fluctuations in sea surface temperature and related oceanographic and atmospheric conditions.
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Seamounts, Guyots and Banks.

Seamounts, Guyots and Banks
Although land areas are very limited in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands at less than six square miles, the relatively shallow underwater habitats (0 – 600 feet below the surface) are extensive.
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Duck seep on Eastern Island.

Fresh water lens
Access to fresh water is the primary limiting factor for terrestrial plants and animals living on the small Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.
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Beach at Lisianski Island.

Sand
You can tell a lot about the geology of a seaside area by its sand.
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Gardner Pinnacles is the last high island in the Hawaiian Archipelago.

High Islands
The Hawaiian Archipelago is composed of "high" islands, and low-lying islands and atolls.
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Birds transport seeds, spores and insects to Hawaiʻi.

By Wind, Wave and Wing
The Hawaiian Archipelago is the remotest island chain on Earth, with the closest continental land mass 2,600 miles away.
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Kuroshio Current.

Kuroshio Current
The Kuroshio Current is one of the primary large-scale currents that affect the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.
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Coral-rubble islet at Pearl and Hermes Atoll.

Coral rubble islets
In atoll environments coral fragments and sand are distributed by currents and wave energy and pile up to create coral-rubble islets.
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Gledstanes shipwreck at Kure Atoll hidden in a spur-and-groove reef.

Spur and groove reefs
One of the effects of large waves on reefs is the formation of spur-and-groove topography.
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Giant East swell off Sandy Beach, Oʻahu. Nov. 2003.

Large wave events
The Hawaiian Islands are famous for their epic waves, particularly along the island's northern shores.
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Mokumanamana.

Tropic of Cancer at Mokumanamana
Mokumanamana sits just north of the Tropic of Cancer, a circle of latitude around the Earth that marks the northern-most position of the sun where it appears directly overhead at its zenith.
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PMNM Size Matters

PMNM Size Matters
Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument and World Heritage Site is one of the largest fully protected conservation areas in the world.
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Atoll formation

Atoll formation
The only coral atolls in the United States are found in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, and Kure Atoll is the northernmost atoll in the world.
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Ancient seafloors

Ancient seafloors
The high resolution seafloor topography data shown in this image reveals the flat-topped nature of many of the seamounts and atolls in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI).
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Atoll Reflection on Clouds

Atoll Reflection on Clouds
Shallow waters of atoll lagoons reflect sunlight back onto low lying clouds, coloring their undersides torquiose or green.
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