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Rangitāhua | |
|---|---|
 Location (in green rectangle) in the Pacific Ocean | |
 | |
| Geography | |
| Coordinates | 29°16′37″S177°55′24″W / 29.27694°S 177.92333°W /-29.27694; -177.92333 |
| Total islands | around 16 |
| Area | 33.6 km2 (13.0 sq mi) |
| Highest elevation | 516 m (1693 ft) |
| Administration | |
| Demographics | |
| Population | 0[1] (2006) |
TheKermadec Islands (/ˈkɜːrmədɛk/KUR-mə-dek;Māori:Rangitāhua)[2] are asubtropicalisland arc in the South Pacific Ocean 800–1,000 km (500–620 mi; 430–540 nmi) northeast ofNew Zealand'sNorth Island, and a similar distance southwest ofTonga. The islands are part of New Zealand. They are 33.6 km2 (13.0 sq mi)[3] in total area and uninhabited, except for the permanently staffedRaoul Island Station, the northernmost outpost of New Zealand.
The islands are listed with theNew Zealand outlying islands. The islands are an immediate part of New Zealand, but not part of anyregion ordistrict, but instead anArea Outside Territorial Authority.
The islands were named after theBreton captainJean-Michel Huon de Kermadec, who visited the islands as part of thed'Entrecasteaux expedition in the 1790s. The topographic particle "Kermadec" is ofBreton origin and is alieu-dit inPencran inFinistère whereker means village, residence andmadec a proper name derived frommad (which means 'good') with the suffix-ec, used to form adjectives indicating a property.
The Māori name is Rangitāhua which is also used for Raoul island.
As indicated by their name for the islands, Rangitāhua (lit. 'the stopping-off place'),Polynesian people "stopped off" on the Kermadec islands in around the 14th century (and perhaps previously in the 10th century).[4] Their arrival is also evident in the presence ofintroducedtaro andcandlenut growing wild in certain areas of Raoul Island supported by its relatively warm climate.[5] However, the first Europeans to reach the area – arriving on board theLady Penrhyn in May 1788 – found no inhabitants on these volcanic islands.
British, American and Australianwhaling vessels cruised offshore in the 19th century and often visited the islands in search of water, wood and food. The first such vessel on record was the whalerFanny that visited Raoul Island in 1823.[6]
On 1 August 1886,HMSDiamondannexed the islands for the United Kingdom.[7][8]Letters patent issued on 18 January 1887, assigned the islands to the colony of New Zealand following a request from the colony's parliament.[9][10] European settlers have lived on the island for varying lengths of time, from the early nineteenth century until 1937, growing food for the whalers.[8] The Thomas Bell family settled on the island from 1878 to 1914. One of the Bell daughters, Bessie Dyke, recounted the family's experience to writerElsie K. Morton who published their story in 1957 asCrusoes of Sunday Island.[11]
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The Raoul Island Station consists of a governmentmeteorological and radio station, and a hostel forDepartment of Conservation officers and volunteers, that has been maintained since 1937.[12] It lies on the northern terraces of Raoul Island, at an elevation of about 50 m (160 ft), above the cliffs of Fleetwood Bluff. It is the northernmost inhabited outpost of New Zealand.
In 1955, the British Government required a large site remote from population centres to test the newthermonuclear devices it was developing. Various islands in the South Pacific and Southern Oceans were considered, along with Antarctica.[13] In May 1955, the Minister for Defence,Selwyn Lloyd, on advice from the Admiralty report, concluded that the Kermadec Islands would be suitable. As the island group was part of New Zealand,Anthony Eden, who had recently become the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, wrote to the Prime Minister of New Zealand,Sidney Holland, to ask for permission to use the islands. Holland refused, fearing an adverse public reaction in the upcoming1957 general election. Despite reassurances and pressure from the British government, Holland remained firm.[14]
The islands lie within 29° to 31.5° south latitude and 178° to 179° west longitude, 800–1,000 km (500–620 mi; 430–540 nmi) northeast of New Zealand'sNorth Island, and a similar distance southwest ofTonga. The total area of the islands is 33.6 km2 (12.97 sq mi).
The climate of the islands issubtropical, with a mean monthly temperature of 22.4 °C (72.3 °F) in February and 16.0 °C (60.8 °F) in August. Rainfall is approximately 1,500 mm (60 in) annually, with lower rainfall from October to January.
The group includes four main islands as well as some isolated rocks. These are:
Seamounts north and south of the Kermadec Islands are an extension of the ridge running from Tonga to New Zealand (seeGeology). Star of Bengal Bank, 103 km (64 mi) south-southwest of L'Esperance Rock, has aleast depth of 48 metres (157 ft).
The islands are avolcanicisland arc, formed at theconvergent boundary where thePacific Plate subducts under theIndo-Australian Plate. The subducting Pacific Plate created theKermadec Trench, an 8 km deepsubmarine trench, to the east of the islands. The islands lie along the undersea Kermadec Ridge, which runs southwest from the islands towards theNorth Island ofNew Zealand and northeast towardsTonga (Kermadec-Tonga Arc).
The four main islands are the peaks of volcanoes that rise high enough from the seabed to project above sea level. There are several other volcanoes in the chain that do not reach sea level, but formseamounts with between 65 and 1500 m of water above their peaks.Monowai Seamount, with a depth of 120 m over its peak, is midway between Raoul Island and Tonga. 100 km south of L'Esperance Rock is the little-exploredStar of Bengal Bank [d], probably with submarine volcanoes.
Further south are theSouth Kermadec Ridge Seamounts, the southernmost of which,Rumble IV Seamount [sk], is just 150 km North of the North Island of New Zealand. The ridge eventually connects toWhite Island in New Zealand'sBay of Plenty, at the northern end of theTaupō Volcanic Zone. The islands experience many earthquakes from plate movement and volcanism.
Raoul and Curtis are both activevolcanoes. The volcanoes on the other islands are currently inactive, and the smaller islands are the eroded remnants of extinct volcanoes.
From 18 to 21 July 2012,Havre Seamount (near Havre Rock)erupted, breaching the ocean surface from a depth of more than 1100 m and producing alarge raft ofpumice floating northwest of the volcano. The eruption was not directly observed, but it was located using earthquake andremote sensing data after the pumice raft was spotted by aircraft and encountered byHMNZSCanterbury.[16][17]
The islands are seismically active.An 8.1 magnitude earthquake occurred in the early hours of 5 March 2021, leading to several strong aftershocks and a tsunami advisory on the North Coast ofNorth Island and other Pacific islands, includingNorfolk Island, Australia. Other magnitude 8 earthquakes have struck near the islands in 1917[18] and 1976.[19]
The islands are recognised by theWorld Wildlife Fund as a distinctecoregion, the Kermadec Islands subtropical moist forests.[20] It is atropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests ecoregion, part of theOceanian realm.[21] The forests are dominated by the red-floweringKermadec pōhutukawa, related to thepōhutukawa of New Zealand.[22] The islands are home to 113 native species ofvascular plants, of which 23 areendemic, along with mosses (52 native species), lichens and fungi (89 native species).[22][23][24] Most of the plant species are derived from New Zealand, with others having travelled over the Pacific.[25] 152 human-introduced species of plants have become established on the islands.[22]
Dense subtropical forests cover most of Raoul, and formerly covered Macauley.[22][26]Metrosideros kermadecensis is the dominant forest tree, forming a 10 – 15-metre (30 – 50-foot) high canopy. A nativenīkau palm (Rhopalostylis baueri) is another important canopy tree. The forests have an understory of smaller trees, shrubs, ferns, and herbs, includingMyrsine kermadecensis;Lobelia anceps,Poa polyphylla,Coprosma acutifolia, andCoriaria arborea.[22] Two endemictree ferns,Alsophila milnei and the rare and endangeredAlsophila kermadecensis, are also found in the forests.[27]
Areas near the seashore and exposed to salt spray are covered by a distinct community of shrubs and ferns, notablyMyoporum obscurum,Coprosma petiolata,Asplenium obtusatum,Cyperus ustulatus,Disphyma australe, andFicinia nodosa.[22][28]
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The islands have no native land mammals. An endemic bird subspecies is theKermadec red-crowned parakeet. The group has been identified as anImportant Bird Area (IBA) byBirdLife International because of its significance as a breeding site for several species of seabirds, includingwhite-necked andblack-winged petrels,wedge-tailed andlittle shearwaters,sooty terns andblue noddies.[29] The area also hosts rich habitats for cetaceans.[30] In recent years, increased presences ofhumpback whales indicate Kermadec Islands functioning as migratory corridors, and varieties of baleen (not in great numbers) and toothed whales includingminke whales,[31]sperm whales, less knownbeaked whales,killer whales, and dolphins frequent in adjacent waters.[32][33] In late September 2015, satellite tags were attached to 25humpback whales around Raoul Island, which were tracked to feeding grounds in Antarctica and across to the Antarctic Peninsula.[34] Vast numbers ofsouthern right whales were historically seen in southwestern areas although only a handful of recent confirmations exist aroundRaoul Island.[35] The deep seahydrothermal vents along the Kermadec ridge support diverseextremophile communities including theNew Zealand blind vent crab.[36] Three new records of tropical reef fishes were recorded from the Kermadec Islands Marine Reserve in 2015 after researchers examined hundreds of hours of unused documentary film footage,[37][38] and in 2016, a redvelvet whalefish and an angler fish (Ceratias tentaculatus) were found around the waters of the Kermadec Islands by a research partnership betweenNgāti Kurī,University of Auckland,Massey University,NIWA,Manaaki Whenua, and theUniversity of Waikato.[39] Raoul Island had amegapode population, though it died out in the late 19th century.
In 2016, Koha, ahawksbill turtle, which was originally found injured nearDargaville in September 2014, was released around the waters of Raoul Island and nursed back to health atKelly Tarlton's Sea Life Aquarium. The release was from the deck of theRV Tangaroa, with land in sight to enable Koha to orientate itself to prevent the risk of getting lost in the open ocean.[40][41]
The introduction of cats,rats, and goats devastated the forests and seabirds.[42][43]Overgrazing by goats eliminated the forests of Macauley Island, leaving open grasslands, and altered the understory of Raoul Island. Predation by rats and cats reduced the seabird colonies on the main islands from millions of birds to tens of thousands. The New Zealand government has been working for the last few decades to restore the islands. New Zealand declared the islands anature reserve in 1937, and the sea around them amarine reserve in 1990.[44] The marine reserve surrounds each of the islands and is one of New Zealand's largest at a total area of 7,480 km2 (2,890 sq mi).[45]
Goats were removed from Macauley in 1970 and from Raoul in 1984, and the forests have begun to recover. The islands are still known for their bird life, and seabird colonies presently inhabit offshore islets, which are safe from introduced rats and cats. Efforts are currently underway to remove the rats and cats from the islands, as well as some of the invasive exotic plants.
Visits to the islands are restricted by the Department of Conservation. The department allows visits to Raoul by volunteers assisting in environmental restoration or monitoring projects, and other visitors engaged in nature study. Visits to the other islands are generally restricted to those engaged in scientific study of the islands.
On 29 September 2015, the New Zealand Prime MinisterJohn Key announced the creation of theKermadec Ocean Sanctuary, a 620,000 km2 (239,383 sq mi)protected area in the Kermadec Islands region.[46] However, subsequently, fishing companies andiwi bodies filed legal action opposing it, and a coalition deal with theNew Zealand First Party[47] has led to the Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill[48] not passing its second reading as of 2019.[49] In late March 2024, the Government halted work on the Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill.[50]
In October–November 2016, a collaborative team of researchers fromAuckland Museum,University of Auckland,Massey University,NIWA andTe Papa undertook research around Kermadec Islands aboardRVTangaroa. The multi-disciplinary team investigated the biodiversity of organisms living on the ocean floor and at midwater. The marine mammal populations were examined to determine what animal and plant species are shared between mainland New Zealand and the Kermadec region.[51]
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