Editing Jarvis Island (section)

==Geography and ecology==
[[File:Jarvis Island.svg|thumb|left|Orthographic projection over Jarvis Island]]
While a few offshore anchorage spots are marked on maps, Jarvis Island has no ports or harbors, and swift currents are a hazard. There is a boat landing area in the middle of the western shoreline near a crumbling [[day beacon]] and another near the island's southwest corner.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.umsl.edu/services/govdocs/wofact2003/geos/dq.html#Trans|title=Jarvis Island|publisher=[[CIA]]|work=[[The World Factbook]]|year=2003|access-date=January 26, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060908234411/http://www.umsl.edu/services/govdocs/wofact2003/geos/dq.html#Trans|archive-date=September 8, 2006|url-status=dead}}</ref> The center of Jarvis island is a dried [[lagoon]] where deep [[guano]] deposits accumulated, which were mined for about 20 years during the nineteenth century. The island has a [[Desert island|tropical desert climate]], with high daytime temperatures, constant wind, and intense sun. Nights, however, are quite cool. The ground is mostly sandy and reaches {{convert|23|ft|m|abbr=off|sp=us}} at its highest point. The low-lying coral island has long been noted as hard to sight from small ships and is surrounded by a narrow [[fringing reef]].

Jarvis Island is one of two United States territories that are in the [[Southern Hemisphere]] (the other is [[American Samoa]]). Located only {{convert|25|mi}} south of the [[equator]], Jarvis has no known natural [[Lens (hydrology)|freshwater lens]] and scant [[rainfall]].<ref>Pacific Remote Islands National Wildlife Refuge Complex, ''[https://www.fws.gov/pacific/planning/main/docs/HI-PI/HBJ/Jarvis%20Draft%20CCP.pdf Jarvis Island NWR Draft CCP EA]'', August 2007, retrieved November 25, 2010: "No information is available on the subsurface hydrology of Jarvis Island. However, its small size and prevailing arid rainfall conditions would not likely result in a drinkable groundwater lens formation. During staff visits to Jarvis, potable water is carried in containers to the island for short visits."</ref><ref name="United States Pacific Island Wildli">{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/united-states-pacific-island-wildlife-refuges/ |title=United States Pacific Island Wildlife Refuges |access-date=January 26, 2007}}</ref> This creates a very bleak, flat landscape without any plants larger than shrubs.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://jarvisisland.info/pbif.html|title=Jarvis Island – Pacific Biodiversity Information Forum photographs|access-date=January 9, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080211192134/http://jarvisisland.info/pbif.html|archive-date=February 11, 2008|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}</ref> There is no evidence that the island has ever supported a self-sustaining human population. Its sparse [[bunch grass]], prostrate [[vine]]s, and low-growing shrubs are primarily a nesting, roosting, and foraging [[habitat]] for seabirds, shorebirds, and marine wildlife.<ref name="doi"/>

Jarvis Island was submerged underwater during the latest interglacial period, roughly 125,000 years ago, when sea levels were {{convert|5|–|10|m|sp=us}} higher than today. As the sea level declined, the horseshoe-shaped lagoon formed in Jarvis Island's center.<ref>Rauzon, Mark J. (2016). ''Isles of Amnesia: The History, Geography, and Restoration of America's Forgotten Pacific Islands''. University of Hawai'i Press, Latitude 20. Page 48. {{ISBN|9780824846794}}.</ref>

=== Topographic isolation ===
Jarvis Island's highest point has a [[topographic isolation]] of {{convert|380.57|km|mi nmi|sp=us}}, with Joe's Hill on [[Kiritimati#Geography|Kiritimati]] being the nearest higher neighbor.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.peakbagger.com/peak.aspx?pid=11924 |title=Jarvis High Point, U.S. Minor Pacific Islands |access-date=October 18, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.peakbagger.com/peak.aspx?pid=34935 |title=Joes Hill, Kiribati |access-date=October 18, 2020}}</ref>

=== Time zone ===
Jarvis Island is located in the [[Samoa Time Zone]] (UTC -11:00), the same [[time zone]] as [[American Samoa]], [[Kingman Reef]], [[Midway Atoll]], and [[Palmyra Atoll]].

===Birds===
Jarvis Island once held some of the largest [[seabird]] breeding colonies in the tropical ocean. Still, guano mining and the introduction of rodents have ruined much of the island's native wildlife. Eight breeding species were recorded in 1982, compared to thirteen in 1996 and fourteen in 2004. The [[Polynesian storm petrel]] had made its return after over 40 years of absence from Jarvis Island, and the number of [[Brown noddy|brown noddies]] multiplied from just a few birds in 1982 to nearly 10,000. Just twelve [[spectacled tern]]s were recorded in 1982, but by 2004, over 200 nests were found there.<ref>Rauzon, Mark J. (2016). ''Isles of Amnesia: The History, Geography, and Restoration of America's Forgotten Pacific Islands''. University of Hawai'i Press, Latitude 20. Pages 38 and 56. {{ISBN|9780824846794}}.</ref> The island, with its surrounding marine waters, has been recognized as an [[Important Bird Area]] (IBA) by [[BirdLife International]] because it supports [[bird colony|colonies]] of [[lesser frigatebird]]s, [[brown booby|brown]] and [[masked booby|masked boobies]], [[red-tailed tropicbird]]s, Polynesian storm petrels, [[blue noddy|blue noddies]] and [[sooty tern]]s, as well as serving as a migratory stopover for [[bristle-thighed curlew]]s.<ref name=bli>{{cite web |url=http://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/jarvis-island-iba-united-states-minor-outlying-islands-(to-usa)|title= Jarvis Island|author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2021|website= BirdLife Data Zone|publisher= BirdLife International|access-date= 23 January 2021}}</ref>