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Not to be confused with Willis Islands not to be confused with Willis Island The Willis Islands ( ) are a small archipelago to the west of the main island of South Georgia. ...
Willis Island is an island in an external territory of Australia, located beyond the Great Barrier Reef in the Coral Sea some 420 km east of Cairns, Queensland. It lies in CQ Zone 30, the grid square is QH43 and it’s IOTA OC-007. It is the southernmost of a group of three islands, which with their associated sandy cays stretch in a NNE to SSW line for about 12 km. Willis Island itself is aligned NW to SE and is about 500 m long by 150 m wide, 7.7 ha in area, rising to just under 10 m above sea level. It is the only permanently inhabited island in Australia's Coral Sea Islands Territory. The Great Barrier Reef is the worlds largest coral reef system,[1][2] composed of roughly 3,000 individual reefs and 900 islands that stretch for 2,600 kilometres (1,616 mi) and cover an area of approximately 344,400 km².[3][4] The reef is located in the...
Map of the Coral Sea Islands A political map of the South Pacific. ...
Central Cairns from Mount Whitfield looking southeast. ...
Weather Monitoring Station
The Australian Bureau of Meteorology has a weather monitoring station on the island[1]. There are usually three Technical Officers (Weather Observers) present, one of whom is Officer-in-Charge, and one Technical Officer (Electronic Engineering) living on the island. The Bureau of Meteorology is an Australian government organisation responsible for providing weather services to Australia and surrounding areas. ...
A technician examines a weather stations anemometer. ...
History The Willis Island weather monitoring station was established in 1921, mainly as an early warning station for cyclones, for which it was equipped with a radio transmitter. The first officer in charge was John King Davis. Year 1921 (MCMXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar). ...
Radar image of a tropical cyclone in the northern hemisphere. ...
Recreation The station has a recreation room which includes amenities such as a pool table, darts and table tennis. An outside sporting area and a home gym are also provided for those desiring vigorous activity. There is also recreational fishing, with some competition from the birdlife.
For the windy days spent on the island, more leisurely recreation is also available. A substantial library caters for all tastes. Two satellite television systems enable reception of Australian Channel 10 and the ABC, and of free-to-air transmissions from countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia. Programming includes the USA television channels CNN and MTV and an extensive video library completes the passive entertainment options. Network Ten, or Channel Ten, is one of Australias three commercial television networks, available in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth in Australia. ...
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation or ABC is Australias national non-profit public broadcaster. ...
United States List of television stations in Alabama List of television stations in Alaska List of television stations in Arizona List of television stations in Arkansas List of television stations in California List of television stations in Colorado List of television stations in Connecticut List of television stations in Delaware...
The Cable News Network, commonly known as CNN, is a major cable television network founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. ...
MTV (Music Television) is an American cable television network headquartered in New York City. ...
Pollution Issues Over the decades of human occupation, a considerable amount of rubbish of many types accumulated. Much of it was buried but occasionally high winds and heavy seas from a cyclone would uncover parts of the rubbish dump. A major clean-up campaign was conducted to protect the sensitive areas such as the coral cays and sand dunes. All rubbish that is generated on the island is now placed in bins that are shipped back to the mainland on the staff exchange vessel to be disposed of. Radar image of a tropical cyclone in the northern hemisphere. ...
A Landfill is a site for the permanent disposal of waste materials by burial. ...
This island generates its own supply of hydrogen for use in weather balloons. Prior to 1994, the island used a chemical process to meet its hydrogen needs. This process produced a toxic residue that was a danger to the local birdlife. Because of this danger, the island now uses an electrolytic converter to break down water into hydrogen and oxygen. General Name, Symbol, Number hydrogen, H, 1 Chemical series nonmetals Group, Period, Block 1, 1, s Appearance colorless Atomic mass 1. ...
A hydrogen filled balloon at Cambridge Bay Upper Air station, Nunavut, Canada Close up of a hydrogen filled balloon at Cambridge Bay Upper Air station, Nunavut, Canada Rawinsonde weather balloon just after launch. ...
Birdlife The most common inhabitants are Wedge-tailed Shearwaters, Sooty Terns and Common and Black Noddies. Several species of booby migrate through the Island including Masked, Brown and Red-footed Boobies, and also the Lesser Frigatebird. Crested Terns are also seen to migrate, although not as often.[2] Other birds mentioned by John King Davis are the Buff-banded Rail as a resident, Wood Sandpiper, and Sacred Kingfisher and Red-tailed Tropicbird as occasional visitors. Binomial name Puffinus pacificus (Gmelin, 1789) The Wedge-tailed Shearwater (Puffinus pacificus) is a medium-large shearwater in the seabird family Procellariidae. ...
Binomial name Sterna fuscata Linnaeus, 1766 The Sooty Tern, Sterna fuscata, is a seabird of the tern family Sternidae. ...
Binomial name Anous stolidus (Linnaeus, 1758) The Brown Noddy or Common Noddy Anous stolidus is a seabird from the tern family. ...
This article does not cite its references or sources. ...
Species Sula nebouxii Sula variegata Sula dactylatra Sula granti Sula sula Sula leucogaster For fossil species, see text The boobies are part of the family Sulidae, a group of seabirds closely related to gannets. ...
Binomial name Sula dactylatra (Lesson, 1831) The Masked Booby, Sula dactylatra, is a large seabird of the gannet family, Sulidae. ...
Binomial name Sula leucogaster (Boddaert, 1783) The Brown Booby (Sula leucogaster) is a large seabird of the gannet family, Sulidae. ...
Binomial name Sula sula (Linnaeus, 1766) Red-footed Boobies on Palmyra Atoll. ...
Binomial name Fregata ariel (Gray, 1845) The Lesser Frigatebird Fregata ariel is a species of frigatebird. ...
Binomial name Sterna bergii Lichtenstein, 1823 The Greater Crested Tern, or Swift Tern, Sterna bergii, is a seabird of the tern family Sternidae. ...
Binomial name Gallirallus philippensis Linnaeus, 1766 The Buff-banded Rail, Gallirallus philippensis is a distinctively coloured, highly dispersive, medium-sized rail of the family Rallidae. ...
Binomial name Tringa glareola Linnaeus, 1758 The Wood Sandpiper, Tringa glareola, is a small wader. ...
Binomial name Todirhamphus sanctus (Linnaeus, 1766) The Sacred Kingfisher (Todirhamphus sanctus) is a tree kingfisher found in the mangroves, eucalypt forests, melaleuca forests, woodlands and paperbark forests of Australia. ...
Binomial name Phaethon rubricauda Boddaert, 1783 The Red-tailed Tropicbird, Phaethon rubricauda, is a seabird that nests across the Indian and Pacific Oceans. ...
References - Anon. (2005). Redevelopment of Willis Island Meteorological Office, Coral Sea. Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works: Canberra. ISBN 0-642-78700-X
- Davis, John King. (1923). Willis Island: a storm-warning station in the Coral Sea. Critchley Parker: Melbourne.
External links
Aerial photos & maps Coordinates: 16°13′01″S 150°01′01″E / -16.217, 150.017 Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ...
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