Kahoʻolawe

Uncommon card · No. 118529

Kahoʻolawe is the smallest of the eight main volcanic islands of the Hawaiian Islands. Unpopulated, it lies about seven miles (11 km) southwest of Maui. The island is 11 mi (18 km) long by 6.0 mi (9.7 km) wide, with a total land area of 44.97 sq mi (116.47 km2). Its highest point is the crater of Luamakika, at the summit of Puʻuomoaʻula Nui, about 1,477 feet (450 m) above sea level. Kahoʻolawe is relatively dry, with an average annual rainfall of less than 26 in (66 cm) resulting from a combination of being too low to generate much orographic precipitation from the northeastern trade winds and lying in the rain shadow of eastern Maui's 10,023-foot-high (3,055 m) volcano, Haleakalā. More than one quarter of Kahoʻolawe has been eroded down to saprolitic hardpan soil, largely on exposed surfaces near the summit. Historically, Kahoʻolawe was always sparsely populated, due to its lack of fresh water. During World War II and the following decades, it was used as a training ground and bombing...

Read on Wikipedia · Image NASA Earth Observatory images by Lauren Dauphin, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. Story by Michael Carlowicz., Public domain