Kingman Reef
Reef
Southeast part of Kingman Reef, looking north
Country	United States
Region	Northern Line Islands (Fanning's Group)
Coordinates	6°23′N 162°25′W / 6.383°N 162.417°W / 6.383; -162.417
Length	18 km (11 mi), East-West
Width	9 km (6 mi), North-South
Height	1.5 m (5 ft)
Depth	82 m (269 ft)
Area	76 km2 (29 sq mi)
- land	0.012 km2 (0 sq mi)
- water	76 km2 (29 sq mi)
Population	0
Material	Coral, limestone
Owner	United States (Claimed under the Guano Islands Act in 1856)
Discovered by	Edmund Fanning
- date	1789
Map of Kingman Reef

Orthographic projection over Kingman Reef.

NASA NLT Landsat 7 true-color photo of Kingman Reef.

Kingman Reef ( /ˈkɪŋmən/) is a largely submerged, uninhabited triangular shaped reef, 9.5 nautical miles (18 km) east-west and 5 nautical miles (9 km) north-south,^[1] located in the North Pacific Ocean, roughly half way between the Hawaiian Islands and American Samoa at 6°23′N 162°25′W / 6.383°N 162.417°W / 6.383; -162.417.^[2][3] It is the northernmost of the Northern Line Islands and lies 36 nautical miles (67 km) northwest of the next closest island (Palmyra Atoll), and 930 nautical miles (1,720 km) south of Honolulu.^[2]

The reef encloses a lagoon up to 270 feet (82 m) deep in its western part.^[1] The total area within the outer rim of the reef is 76 km² (29 sq mi). There are two small strips of dry land composed of coral rubble and giant clamshells on the eastern rim with areas of 2 acres (8,000 m²) and 1 acre (4,000 m²)^[4] having a coastline of 3 kilometres (2 mi).^[2] The highest point on the reef is less than 5 feet (1.5 m) above sea level,^[4] which is wetted or awash most of the time, making Kingman Reef a maritime hazard. It has no natural resources and supports no economic activity.^[2]

Political status[link]

Kingman Reef has the status of an unincorporated U.S. possession of the United States, administered from Washington, DC by the U.S. Department of Interior. The atoll is closed to the public. For statistical purposes, Kingman Reef is grouped as part of the United States Minor Outlying Islands. In January 2009, Kingman Reef was designated a marine national monument.

The pre-20th century names Danger Reef, Caldew Reef, Maria Shoal and Crane Shoal refer to this atoll, which by then was entirely submerged at high tide. Thomas Hale Streets described its state in the 1870s, when it had:

... hardly, as yet, assumed the distinctive features of an island. It is entirely under water at high tide, and but a few coral heads project here and there above the surface at low water. In the course of time, however, it will undoubtedly be added to the [northern Line Islands].^[5]

History[link]

Kingman Reef was discovered by the American Captain Edmund Fanning of the ship Betsey on June 14, 1798. Captain W. E. Kingman (whose name the island bears) described it on November 29, 1853. It was claimed for the United States under the name "Danger Reef" by the Guano Islands Act of 1856.^[6]

Lorrin A. Thurston formally annexed Kingman to the United States on May 10, 1922 by reading this declaration on shore:

Be it known to all people: That on the tenth of May, A.D. 1922, the undersigned agent of the Island of Palmyra Copra Co., Ltd., landed from the motorship Palmyra doth, on this tenth day of May, A.D. 1922, take formal possession of this island, called Kingman Reef, situated in longitude 162 degrees 18' west and 6 degrees 23' north, on behalf of the United States of America and claim the same for said company.

On December 29, 1934 the US Navy assumed jurisdiction over Kingman Reef.^[7] The lagoon was used in 1937 and 1938 as a halfway station between Hawai'i and American Samoa by Pan American Airways flying boats (Sikorsky S-42B).^[8] Pan Am wanted to expand flights into the Pacific and include Australia and New Zealand to their "Clipper" air routes. In 1935 it was decided that the lagoon at Kingman Reef was suitable for overnight stops en route from the U.S to New Zealand via Samoa. Kingman Reef became the stopover to and from Pago Pago, American Samoa, located 1,600 miles (2,600 km) further south. A supply ship, the North Wind, was stationed at Kingman Reef to provide fuel, lodging, and meals. The S42B Pan American Clipper II, piloted by Captain Edwin Musick, landed at Kingman on its first flight on March 23, 1937. Several successful flights followed, however the flight on January 11, 1938 ended in tragedy. Shortly after the early morning take off from Pago Pago, bound for New Zealand the Clipper exploded. The right outboard engine developed an oil leak and the plane burst into flames while dumping fuel, and there were no survivors. As a result of the tragedy, Pan Am ended flights to New Zealand via Kingman Reef and Pago Pago. A new route was established in July 1940 by way of Canton Island and New Caledonia.

Ecology[link]

Dry strip of land on Kingman Reef. Note coconut palm seedling.

Kingman Reef supports a vast variety of marine life. Giant clams are abundant in the shallows, and there are approximately 38 genera and 130 species of stony corals present on the reef. This is more than three times the species diversity of corals found in the main Hawaiian Islands. The ecosystem of the reef and its subsequent food chain are known for the distinct quality of being primarily predator-based. The percentage of the total fish biomass on the reef is made up of 85% apex predators, creating a high level of competition for food and nutrients among local organisms — particularly sharks, jacks and other carnivores. The threatened green sea turtles that frequent nearby Palmyra atoll travel to Kingman Reef to forage and bask on the coral rubble spits at low tide.

Above sea level the reef is usually barren of macroorganisms, however. Mainly constructed of dead and dried coral skeletons, providing only calcite as a source of nutrients, the small and narrow strips of dry land are only habitable by a handful of species for short periods of time. Most flora which begin to grow above water — primarily coconut palms — die out quickly due to the fierce tides and lack of resources necessary to sustain plant life.

National Wildlife Refuge[link]

On September 1, 2000 the Navy relinquished its control over Kingman Reef to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. On January 18, 2001 Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt created the Kingman Reef National Wildlife Refuge during his final days in office with Secretary’s Order 3223. It is composed of the emergent coral rubble spits and all waters out to 12 nautical miles (22 km). While there are only 3 acres (0.012 km²) of land, 483,754 acres (1,957.68 km²) of water area is included in the Refuge.^[9] Along with six other islands, the reef was administered as part of the Pacific Remote Islands National Wildlife Refuge Complex. In January 2009, that entity was upgraded to the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument by President George W. Bush.^[10]

Amateur radio expeditions[link]

Since the early 1940s Kingman Reef has had very little human contact, though amateur radio operators from around the world have occasionally visited the reef to put it "on the air" in what is known as a DX-pedition. In 1974, a group of amateurs using the callsign KP6KR sailed to the reef and set up a temporary radio station and antenna tower. Other groups visited the island in subsequent years, including 1977, 1980, 1981, 1988 and 1993.

Most recently, a group of 15 amateur radio operators from the Palmyra DX Group visited the reef in October 2000. Using the FCC-issued special event callsign K5K, the group made more than 80,000 individual contacts with amateurs around the world over a period of 10 days.^[11]

See also[link]

• List of Guano Island claims

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Kingman Reef

Wikimedia Atlas of Kingman Reef

• K5K Amateur Radio Expedition to Kingman Reef
• Kennedy Warne: "An Uneasy Eden" — National Geographic Magazine, July 2008

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Sylvia Earle
After winning a TED Prize in 2009
Born	(1935-08-30) August 30, 1935 (age 76) Gibbstown, New Jersey
Residence	Oakland, California
Nationality	American
Fields	Oceanography
Institutions	Deep Ocean Engineering, NOAA, National Geographic Society, Mission Blue Foundation
Alma mater	Florida State University (B.S.) Duke University (M.S. and Ph.D.)
Known for	Exploration and environmental advocacy
Notable awards	Order of the Golden Ark TED Prize (2009)

Sylvia Alice Earle (born August 30, 1935 in Gibbstown, New Jersey) is an American oceanographer. She was a chief scientist at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration from 1990 to 1992. Since 1995 she has been a National Geographic explorer-in-residence, sometimes called "Her Deepness"^[1] or "The Sturgeon General".^[2]Sylvia Earle was named by Time Magazine as the first Hero for the Planet. She is an oceanographer, explorer, author, lecturer, Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society, leader of the Sustainable Seas Expeditions, council chair for the Harte Research Institute for the Gulf of Mexico Studies at Texas A&-Corpus Christi, founder and chairman of the Deep Search Foundation, and finally the chair of the Advisory Council for the Ocean in Google Earth. Sylvia Earle has founded three companies which included Deep Ocean Exploration and Research (DOER Marine Operations). (Earle, 2009)

Education and career[link]

Earle received a B.S. degree from Florida State University (1955) and a M.S. (1956) and Ph.D. (1966) from Duke University. She was Curator of Phycology at the California Academy of Sciences (1979–1986) and a Research Associate at the University of California, Berkeley (1969–1981), Radcliffe Institute Scholar (1967–1969) and Research Fellow or Associate at Harvard University (1967–1981).

Earle led the first team of women aquanauts during the Tektite Project in 1970, In 1979, she made an open-ocean JIM suit dive to the sea floor near Oahu, setting a women's depth record of 381 metres (1,250 ft).^[1] She also holds the women's depth record for a solo dive in a submersible: 1,000 metres (3,300 ft).

From 1980 to 1984 she served on NACOA (the National Advisory Committee on Oceans and Atmosphere). In 1985 she founded Deep Ocean Engineering along with her husband, engineer and submersible designer Graham Hawkes, to design, operate, support, and consult on piloted and robotic sub sea systems. In 1987 The Deep Ocean Engineering team designed and built the Deep Rover research submarine, which operates down to 1,000 metres (3,300 ft). She left the company in 1990 to accept an appointment as a chief scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

In 1992 she founded Deep Ocean Exploration and Research (DOER Marine) to further advance marine engineering. The company, now run by her daughter Elizabeth, continues to design, build and operate equipment for deep ocean environments.^[3]

Since 1998, Earle has been an explorer in residence at the National Geographic Society. In 2011, she received an honorary doctorate from Smith College,^[4] and delivered the commencement address at Warren Wilson College.

Accomplishments[link]

Earle has led more than 60 expeditions worldwide involving in excess of 7,000 hours underwater in connection with her research.^[5] From 1998 to 2002 she led the Sustainable Seas Expeditions, a five-year program to study the United States National Marine Sanctuary sponsored by the National Geographic Society and funded by the Goldman Foundation. An expert on the impact of oil spills, she was called upon to lead several research trips during the Gulf War and following the spills of the ships, Exxon Valdez and Mega Borg.

Earle is the author of more than 125 publications concerning marine science and technology including the books Exploring the Deep Frontier, Sea Change (1995), Wild Ocean: America's Parks Under the Sea (1999) and The Atlas of the Ocean (2001), she has participated in numerous television productions and given scientific, technical, and general interest lectures in more than 60 countries. Children's books that she has written include Coral Reefs, Hello Fish, Sea Critters, and Dive!

In 1986, Earle tied the world solo dive depth record in a sub (and setting the record for a woman), going 1000m in Deep Ocean Engineering's Deep Rover, tying the record set by her then husband Graham Hawkes.^[6][7]

Earle was named Time magazine's first "hero for the planet" in 1998. She is a Knight in the Netherlands' Order of the Golden Ark.^[8]

She was instrumental in adding a new feature of displaying oceans in version 5.0 of Google Earth.^[9]

Earle founded Deep Search (also known as the Sylvia Earle Alliance, Deep Search Foundation, and Mission Blue Foundation), a non-profit foundation for protecting and exploring the Earth's oceans.^[10] In addition, she serves on several boards, including Marine Conservation Biology Institute (MCBI).^[11]

In July 2012, Earle will co-lead an expedition to NOAA's Aquarius underwater laboratory, located off Key Largo, Florida. The expedition, entitled "Celebrating 50 Years Of Living Beneath The Sea", will commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of Jacques Cousteau's Conshelf I project and investigate coral reefs and ocean health. Dr. Mark Patterson will co-lead the expedition with Earle. Their aquanaut team will also include underwater filmmaker D.J. Roller.^[12]

Sylvia Earle displays samples to aquanaut inside TEKTITE

Mission Blue[link]

In 2009, Earle won a TED Prize.^[13] With TED's support, she launched Mission Blue, which aims to establish marine protected areas (dubbed "hope spots") around the globe.^[14]

“I wish you would use all means at your disposal — films! expeditions! the web! more! — to ignite public support for a global network of marine protected areas, hope spots large enough to save and restore the ocean, the blue heart of the planet.” - Sylvia Earle ^[14]

With Mission Blue and its partners, Earle led expeditions to prospective hope spots: Cuba in 2009,^[15] Belize in January 2010, the Galápagos Islands in April 2010,^[16] and the Mesoamerican Reef in July 2011.

Quotes[link]

I want to get out in the water. I want to see fish, real fish, not fish in a laboratory.

—Sylvia Earle^[17]

People ask: Why should I care about the ocean? Because the ocean is the cornerstone of earth's life support system, it shapes climate and weather. It holds most of life on earth. 97% of earth's water is there. It's the blue heart of the planet-we should take care of our heart. It's what makes life possible for us. We still have a really good chance to make things better than they are. They won't get better unless we take the action and inspire others to do the same thing. No one is without power. Everybody has the capacity to do something.

—Sylvia Earle^[18]

Publications[link]

• Earle, Sylvia (1996). Sea Change: A Message of the Oceans. Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-449-91065-2. 
• Earle, Sylvia (1999). Dive: My Adventures In the Deep Frontier. National Geographic Children's Books. ISBN 0-7922-7144-0. 
• Earle, Sylvia and Linda K. Glover (2008). Ocean: An Illustrated Atlas (National Geographic Atlas). National Geographic. ISBN 1-4262-0319-5. 
• Earle, Sylvia (2001). Hello, Fish!: Visiting The Coral Reef. National Geographic Children's Books. ISBN 0-7922-6697-8. 
• Earle, Sylvia (2009). The World is Blue. National Geographic Books. ISBN 1-4262-0541-4. 

References[link]

• Earle, S. A. (2009). The World Is Blue;How Our Fate and the Ocean's Are One. Washington: National Geographic Society.

External links[link]

• The Sylvia Earle Alliance, Mission Blue
• Watch Sylvia Earle at The underwater Channel
• Home Page for Sylvia Earle
• National Geographic Profile
• Project Deepsearch
• DOER Marine
• TED Prize Wish: Sylvia Earle's TED Prize wish to protect our oceans at TED in 2009