Ailinginae Atoll (Marshallese: Aelōn̄in Ae, [ɑelʲɤŋinʲɑːɛ][1]) is an uninhabited (due to Castle Bravo nuclear testing) coral atoll of 25 islands in the Pacific Ocean, on the northern end of the Ralik Chain of the Marshall Islands. Its total land area is only 2.8 square kilometers (1.1 sq mi), but it encloses a lagoon of 105.96 square kilometers (40.91 sq mi). It is located approximately 13 kilometers (8.1 mi) west of Rongelap Atoll. The landscape is low-lying with only the top 3 meters (9.8 ft) above sea level. The two entrances into the lagoon are 'Mogiri Pass' and 'Eniibukku Pass'. These are 1.45 and 0.48 kilometers (0.9 and 0.3 mi) wide respectively.
The average temperature of these islands is about 27 °C (81 °F) during daytime and slightly warmer during night-time due to cold weather associated with rain showers during daytime. The rainy season is from September through November. The island is covered with 29 species of plants[2] scrub, grasses and some stands of Pisonia grandis trees.
History
NASA Landsat 8 image of Ailinginae Atoll
The first sighting recorded by Europeans was by the Spanish navigator Álvaro de Saavedra on 1 January 1528. Together with Utirik Atoll and Rongelap Atoll, they were charted as Islas de los Reyes (Islands of the Three Wise Kings in Spanish) due to the proximity of Epiphany[3]
^Marshallese-English Dictionary - Place Name Index
^Releford, Jodi Stevens;Stevens, Jonathan;Bridges, K. W.;McClatchey, Will C.Flora of Rongelap and Ailinginae Atolls, Republic of the Marshall Islands [https://repository.si.edu/handle/10088/8006[
^Brand, Donald D. The Pacific Basin: A History of its Geographical Explorations The American Geographical Society, New York, 1967, p.121
^Churchill, William (1920). "Germany's Lost Pacific Empire". Geographical Review. 10 (2): 84. JSTOR 207706.
Ailinginae Atoll Fact Sheet
External links
"Oceandots site". Archived from the original on 2010-12-23. Retrieved 2010-07-23.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
Marshall Islands site
Map of Ailinginae Atoll 1893
Geography of the Marshall Islands, including Ailinginae Atoll