Geography of the Federated States of Micronesia

The Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) consists of 607 islands extending 1,800 miles (2,900 km) across the archipelago of the Caroline Islands east of the Philippines. The Federated States of Micronesia is an Island nation located in the Pacific Ocean, north of Papua New Guinea. The Caroline Islands form a large Archipelago of widely scattered islands in the western Pacific Ocean, northeast of New Guinea. The Philippines ( Filipino: Pilipinas, officially known as the Republic of the Philippines (fil ''Republika ng Pilipinas'' RP The four constituent island groups are Yap, Chuuk (called Truk until January 1990), Pohnpei (called Ponape until November 1984), and Kosrae. Yap, also known as Wa'ab for locals is an Island in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean. Chuuk &mdash formerly Truk, Ruk, Hogoleu, Torres, Ugulat, and Lugulus &mdash is an island group in the south western Pohnpei "upon ( pohn) a stone altar ( pei)" (formerly known as Ponape) is the name of one of the four states in the Federated Kosrae (koʊˈʃaɪ /koʊʃˈraɪ/ or /koʊsˈraɪ/ in English) formerly known as Kusaie, is an island in Micronesia and is by itself one of four The federal capital is Palikir, on Pohnpei. Palikir (ˈpælɪkɚ is the Capital of the Federated States of Micronesia since 1989, when it replaced Kolonia. Separated from the four main island groups are the islands of Nukuoro and Kapingamarangi, which geographically and politically are part of Micronesia, but linguistically and culturally form part of Polynesia: the languages spoken on these two islands are of the Samoic family of Polynesian languages. Nukuoro is an Atoll in the Federated States of Micronesia. It is a Municipality of the state of Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia Kapingamarangi is an Atoll and a Municipality in the state of Pohnpei of the Federated States of Micronesia. Micronesia, from the Greek mikros (μικρός (meaning small) and nesos (νῆσος (meaning island) is a Subregion Polynesia (from Greek: πολύς many, νῆσος island) is a Subregion of Oceania, comprising a large grouping of over The Samoic languages are one of the primary classes of Polynesian languages, encompassing the Polynesian languages of Samoa, Tuvalu, American The Polynesian languages are a Language family spoken in the region known as Polynesia.

FSM enjoys a tropical climate, with quite even, warm temperatures throughout the year. Rainfall is generally plentiful, and Pohnpei reputedly is one of the wettest places on earth, with up to 330 inches (8. 4 m) of rain per year. Nevertheless, drought conditions do occur periodically throughout FSM, especially when the El Niño condition moves into the Western Pacific, when groundwater supplies can dwindle to emergency proportions. El Niño-Southern Oscillation ( ENSO; commonly referred to as simply El Niño) is a global coupled ocean-atmosphere phenomenon Tropical typhoons are an annual threat, particularly to the low-lying atolls.

Location: Oceania, island group in the northern Pacific Ocean, about three-quarters of the way from Hawaii to Indonesia

Geographic coordinates: 6°55′N, 158°15′E

Map references: Oceania

Area:
total: 702 km²
land: 702 km²
water: 0 km²
note: includes Pohnpei (Ponape), Truk (Chuuk) Islands, Yap Islands, and Kosrae

Area - comparative: four times the size of Washington, DC

Land boundaries: 0 km

Coastline: 6,112 km

Maritime claims:
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm (370 km)
territorial sea: 12 nm

Climate: tropical; heavy year-round rainfall, especially in the eastern islands; located on southern edge of the typhoon belt with occasionally severe damage

Terrain: islands vary geologically from high mountainous islands to low, coral atolls; volcanic outcroppings on Pohnpei, Kosrae, and Truk

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m
highest point: Totolom 791 m, on Pohnpei

Natural resources: forests, marine products, deep-seabed minerals

Land use:
arable land: NA%
permanent crops: NA%
permanent pastures: NA%
forests and woodland: NA%
other: NA%

Irrigated land: NA km²

Natural hazards: typhoons (June to December)

Environment - current issues: overfishing

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

Geography - note: four major island groups totaling 607 islands

See also