Pacific Island Dreaming
January 02, 2002
Provided by: NOAA Photo Library
Summary authors & editors: Martin Ruzek
Long and cold winter nights make for dreams of warmer places, and islands of the south Pacific fit the bill nicely. The image above is of Ponape (Pohnpei) on the eastern edge of the Caroline Islands of Micronesia, a few hundred kilometers north of the equator. These volcanic islands are subject to heavy year round rainfall and tropical temperatures. The weather today is expected to be cloudy, with a high of 88 degrees F and low of 77. Pohnpei is also home to the remarkable ruins of Nan Madol, megalithic structures of basaltic columns weighing as much as 50 tons, stacked like logs and built hundreds of years ago - yet another reason to plan a mid-January visit!
Photo by Dr. James P. McVey, NOAA, March, 1971
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