About Palmyra

With its abundance of life and isolation from most human impacts, Palmyra Atoll is the most natural marine laboratory in the world – and a treasure trove of tropical plants and animals clothing the ring of islets. Palmyra informs and strengthens global conservation through a partnership of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, The Nature Conservancy, and the Palmyra Atoll Research Consortium, which includes some of the world’s top research institutions.

Palmyra Atoll lies about halfway between Hawai‘i and American Sāmoa. Palmyra is the second northernmost atoll in the Line Islands chain in the Pacific Ocean, 960 nautical miles south/southwest of Hawai‘i (5° 53’ N, 162° 5’ W). It consists of an oval string of islets covering nearly 600 acres of land with thick vegetation nestled among several lagoons and encircled by more than 15,000 acres of pristine coral reefs. It represents one of the most important marine wilderness areas left in the U.S. tropics.

PHOTO CREDIT: TNC