Nauru - Geography

Geography - People - Economy - Government - Communications - Transportation - Military - Transnational Issues

Nauru is located Oceania, island in the South Pacific Ocean, south of the Marshall Islands. The climate is tropical with a monsoonal pattern; rainy season (November to February). The terrain is sandy beach rises to fertile ring around raised coral reefs with phosphate plateau in center.

Location

This entry identifies the country's regional location, neighboring countries, and adjacent bodies of water.
Location : Oceania, island in the South Pacific Ocean, south of the Marshall Islands

Geographic coordinates

This entry includes rounded latitude and longitude figures for the purpose of finding the approximate geographic center of an entity and is based on the locations provided in the Geographic Names Server (GNS), maintained by the National Geospatial- Intelligence Agency on behalf of the US Board on Geographic Names.
Geographic coordinates : 0 32 S, 166 55 E

Map references

This entry includes the name of the Factbook reference map on which a country may be found. Note that boundary representations on these maps are not necessarily authoritative. The entry on Geographic coordinates may be helpful in finding some smaller countries.
Map references : Oceania

Area

This entry includes three subfields. Total area is the sum of all land and water areas delimited by international boundaries and/or coastlines. Land area is the aggregate of all surfaces delimited by international boundaries and/or coastlines, excluding inland water bodies (lakes, reservoirs, rivers). Water area is the sum of the surfaces of all inland water bodies, such as lakes, reservoirs, or rivers, as delimited by international boundaries and/or coastlines.
Area - total : 21 sq km
Area - land : 21 sq km
Area - water : 0 sq km

Area - comparative

This entry provides an area comparison based on total area equivalents. Most entities are compared with the entire US or one of the 50 states based on area measurements (1990 revised) provided by the US Bureau of the Census. The smaller entities are compared with Washington, DC (178 sq km, 69 sq mi) or The Mall in Washington, DC (0.59 sq km, 0.23 sq mi, 146 acres).
Area - comparative : about 0.1 times the size of Washington, DC

Land boundaries

This entry contains the total length of all land boundaries and the individual lengths for each of the contiguous border countries. When available, official lengths published by national statistical agencies are used. Because surveying methods may differ, country border lengths reported by contiguous countries may differ.
Land boundaries : 0 km

Coastline

This entry gives the total length of the boundary between the land area (including islands) and the sea.
Coastline : 30 km

Maritime claims

This entry includes the following claims, the definitions of which are excerpted from the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which alone contains the full and definitive descriptions
Maritime claims - territorial sea : 12 nm
Maritime claims - contiguous zone : 24 nm
Maritime claims - exclusive economic zone : 200 nm

Climate

This entry includes a brief description of typical weather regimes throughout the year.
Climate : tropical with a monsoonal pattern; rainy season (November to February)

Terrain

This entry contains a brief description of the topography.
Terrain : sandy beach rises to fertile ring around raised coral reefs with phosphate plateau in center

Elevation extremes

This entry includes both the highest point and the lowest point.
Elevation extremes - lowest point : Pacific Ocean 0 m
Elevation extremes - highest point : unnamed location along plateau rim 61 m

Natural resources

This entry lists a country's mineral, petroleum, hydropower, and other resources of commercial importance.
Natural resources : phosphates, fish

Land use

This entry contains the percentage shares of total land area for three different types of land use
Land use - arable land : 0%
Land use - permanent crops : 0%
Land use - other : 100% (2005)

Irrigated land

This entry gives the number of square kilometers of land area that is artificially supplied with water.
Irrigated land : NA

Natural hazards

This entry lists potential natural disasters.
Natural hazards : periodic droughts

Environment - current issues

This entry lists the most pressing and important environmental problems. The following terms and abbreviations are used throughout the entry
Environment - current issues : limited natural fresh water resources, roof storage tanks collect rainwater, but mostly dependent on a single, aging desalination plant; intensive phosphate mining during the past 90 years - mainly by a UK, Australia, and NZ consortium - has left the central 90% of Nauru a wasteland and threatens limited remaining land resources

Environment

Environment - international agreements - party to : Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Whaling
Environment - international agreements - signed, but not ratified : none of the selected agreements

Geography - note

This entry includes miscellaneous geographic information of significance not included elsewhere.
Geography - note : Nauru is one of the three great phosphate rock islands in the Pacific Ocean - the others are Banaba (Ocean Island) in Kiribati and Makatea in French Polynesia; only 53 km south of Equator

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