Minami-Torishima Island

Table of Contents☰

About Minami-Torishima Island:

Minami-Torishima Island, also known as Marcus Island, is an isolated Japanese coral atoll in the northwestern Pacific Ocean.
It is the easternmost territory belonging to Japan and the only Japanese territory on the Pacific Plate, past the Japan Trench. It lies 1,950 km southeast of central Tokyo.
The shape of the island is close to an equilateral triangle.
It’s formed by a raised coral reef, which is about 2 km on each side and 6 km around.
The terrain is flat, with a maximum altitude of 9 m, but outside of the reef is a steep cliff that’s about 1,000 m deep, and the surrounding waters go down to about 6,000 m at their deepest.
Climate: Located in the transitional zone between tropical and subtropical climates, the Island has an oceanic climate with an average annual temperature of around 25.6 °C.
The exclusive economic zone based on the baseline of the Minami torishima Island is some 430,000 km2, larger than Japan’s land area.

Q1: What is an atoll?

An atoll is a ring-shaped coral reef, island, or series of islets. An atoll surrounds a body of water called a lagoon. Sometimes, atolls and lagoons protect a central island. Channels between islets connect a lagoon to the open ocean or sea.

Source: Japan found enough minerals off a remote Pacific island to fuel its EV plans for over a decade