The Hawaiian Islands (Hawaiian: Mokupuni o Hawai‘i) are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, numerous smaller islets, and undersea seamounts in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some 1,500 miles (2,400 kilometres) from the island of Hawaiʻi in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll (the northwesternmost island in Hawaii is Green Island, which is joined to the Kure Atoll). Excluding Midway, which is an unincorporated territory within the United States Minor Outlying Islands, the Hawaiian Islands form the U.S. state of Hawaii. Once known as the "Sandwich Islands", the archipelago now takes its name from the largest island in the cluster.
The islands are the exposed peaks of a great undersea mountain range known as the Hawaiian-Emperor seamount chain, formed by volcanic activity over a hotspot in the Earth's mantle. The Hawaiian islands are about 1,860 miles (3,000 km) from the nearest continent.
Read more about Hawaiian Islands: Islands and Reefs, Geology, Tsunamis, Ecology, National Monument, Climate
Other articles related to "hawaiian islands, islands, hawaiian, island":
... Models consistently predicted Emilia to remain south of the Hawaiian Islands because of the upper troughs' climatologically weak nature during the summer ... Emilia passed south of the Hawaiian Islands, producing swells of 6–10 feet (2–3.3 m) near the Puna and Ka‘ū coasts ... All in all, Hurricane Emilia had mostly minor effects in the Hawaiian Islands ...
... The top image above shows the winds around the Hawaiian Islands measured by the Seawinds instrument aboard QuikSCAT during August 1999 ... The bottom image shows the ocean current formed by the islands’ wake ... a tiny speck within the vast Pacific Ocean, the Hawaiian Islands have a surprising effect on ocean currents and circulation patterns over much of the Pacific ...
... naturally in the state of Hawaii as determined by the Hawaiian Audubon Society ... The scope of this list encompasses the entire Hawaiian Islands chain, from Kure Atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands to the north, to the "Big Island" of Hawaii to the south ... (*) = Endemic a species either entirely confined to the Hawaiian Islands in its natural distribution, or a species whose breeding range is entirely confined to the Hawaiian Islands ...
... to São Tomé Asian Golden Weaver, unsuccessfully introduced to the Cocos-Keeling Islands Baya Weaver, unsuccessfully introduced to the Hawaiian Islands and Hong Kong Madagascar Fody, successfully introduced to the ...
... The climate of the Hawaiian Islands is tropical but it experiences many different climates, depending on altitude and weather ... The islands receive most rainfall from the trade winds on their north and east flanks (the windward side) as a result of orographic precipitation ... In general, the Hawaiian Islands receive most of their precipitation during the winter months (October to April) ...
Famous quotes containing the word islands:
“What are the islands to me
if you are lost
what is Naxos, Tinos, Andros,
and Delos, the clasp
of the white necklace?”
—Hilda Doolittle (1886–1961)