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Midway Islands: Maps and Imagery
Midway
Islands IKONOS image:
View the 13m-resolution version (206 KB).
View the 8m-resolution version (352 KB).
Midway
Islands bathymetry image:
View the 13m-resolution version (274 KB) with depth scale.
Download the 4-meter resolution geotiff (2,547 KB zip file). See the Digital number (DN) to Classification matchup for NWHI bathymetry files.
See the legend PDF to view the colorbars for the depth scales and the legends for habitat cover and detailed class.
Image
of Midway Islands habitat cover:
View the 13m-resolution version (331 KB) with legend.
Download the 4-meter resolution geotiff (376 KB zip file). See the Digital number (DN) to Classification matchup for NWHI habitat cover files.
See the legend PDF to view the colorbars for the depth scales and the legends for habitat cover and detailed class.
Midway
Islands detailed habitat image:
View the 13m-resolution version (364 KB) with legend.
Download the 4-meter resolution geotiff (405 KB zip file). See the Digital number (DN) to Classification matchup for NWHI detailed classification files.
See the legend PDF to view the colorbars for the depth scales and the legends for habitat cover and detailed class.
Midway Islands: Shapefiles
Click on the links below to download shapefiles which correspond to the French Frigate Shoals detailed habitat class and aggregated cover imagery. Each zipped shapefile consists of 6 separate files, with the same root name and .dbf, .prj, .sbn, .sbx, .shp, and .shx extensions.
Midway
Islands: Detailed habitat shapefile (6.5 MB)
Midway
Islands: Habitat cover shapefile (6 MB)
Click here to download a .ZIP file which contains the Arc and PCI legend files (.avl and .rst extension) for the NWHI maps. When added to your Arc or PCI project, these files will cause the vector colors to match the geotiffs.
Midway Islands: Description and History
Lying at longitude 177 degrees 20 minutes W and latitude 28 degrees 15 minutes N, Midway Atoll is what remains of a large shield volcano that, 28 million years ago, may have been as large as Lana`i. What remains now is a shallow water atoll about 10 kilometers across. As the Pacific Ocean washed away the top of the volcano, coral reefs grew. These coral reefs are now over 400 m thick. Two islands, Sand Island and East Island, and several migrating sandbars rise above the ocean surface. They provide habitat for hundreds of thousands of birds. Midway was discovered in 1859 by N.C. Brooks, captain of the sealing ship Gambia. By claiming Midway for the United States under the Guano Act of 1856, Midway became the only island in the entire Hawaiian archipelago that was not part of the State of Hawai`i. Midway is the most frequently visited locale in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. It lies nearly halfway between North America and Asia. It also lies almost halfway around the earth from Greenwich, England.
The islands of Midway Atoll have been extensively altered as a result of human habitation. Starting in 1869 with a project to blast the reefs and create a port on Sand Island, the ecology of Midway has been changing. Birds native to other NWHI islands, such as the Laysan Rail and Laysan Finch, were released at Midway. Ironwood trees from Australia were planted to act as windbreaks. Seventy-five percent of the 200 species of plants on Midway are introduced. The location of Midway in the Pacific became important first to commercial airlines and, later, to the military. Midway was a convenient refueling stop on transpacific flights. It also became an important stop for Navy ships. Around 1940, the channel was widened, and construction of a Naval Air Station was completed. Midway’s importance to the U.S. was brought into focus on December 7, 1941. Six months later, on June 3, 1942, a naval battle near Midway resulted in the U.S. Navy exacting a devastating defeat of the Japanese Navy. This battle was, by some accounts, the beginning of the end of the Japanese Navy’s control of the Pacific Ocean.
After many years of occupation, the Navy officially turned the island over to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on May 20, 1996. Now, the island is home to hundreds of thousands of birds and other animals. The Fish and Wildlife Service now manages the atoll as Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge.