Atoll de Clipperton
- ISS008-E-7025
- 04 December 2003
- 18:47 UTC
The uninhabited Atoll de Clipperton is a small and extremely isolated atoll of the Eastern Pacific — the easternmost atoll to be found in the Pacific — located about 1,075 km south from Isla Clarion in the Revilla-Gigedo Archipelago. Not only is Clipperton the easternmost atoll of the Pacific, it is the only atoll to be found in this region.
Clipperton is roughly circular in shape with an area of 6 km², being around 4 km across (orientated northwest to southeast), with a circumference in the region of 12 km. Its circumferential rim is continuos without any rim-crossing passages and is composed primarily from coral rubble. The rim, ranging in width from 50 to 200 m is widest on the northwest where widths of up to 400 m are found; it has an area of 2 km². The rim, in turn, is fringed by intertidal reef flats with widths varying between 50 and 130 m.
The brackish central lagoon is closed from the surrounding oceanic waters and has average depths of between 1 m and 10 m with several deeper pools occurring. The water is often turbid and contains extensive plant material (as evidenced by the above image). Lagoon waters are replenished mainly by rainfall and by storm surges that bring oceanic waters over the lower parts of the rim. There are also a number of tiny islets at the northwestern side of the lagoon.
An unusual feature of Clipperton is the 29 m high outcrop of the rugged and volcanic Clipperton Rock that is found on the southeastern side of the atoll.
image: earth sciences and image analysis laboratory, nasa johnson space center.
