Geography of the Cook Islands#Climate
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The Cook Islands can be divided into two groups: the Southern Cook Islands and the Northern Cook Islands. The country is located in Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean, about halfway between Hawaii and New Zealand.
From December through to March, the Cook Islands are in the path of tropical cyclones, the most notable of which were cyclones Martin (1997) and Percy (2005).{{Cite web |title=Cook Islands climate: average weather, temperature, precipitation, best time |url=https://www.climatestotravel.com/climate/cook-islands |access-date=2020-08-11|website=www.climatestotravel.com}} Two terrestrial ecoregions lie within the islands' territory: the Central Polynesian tropical moist forests and the Cook Islands tropical moist forests.{{cite journal|last1=Dinerstein|first1=Eric|last2=Olson|first2=David|last3=Joshi|first3=Anup|last4=Vynne|first4=Carly|last5=Burgess|first5=Neil D.|last6=Wikramanayake|first6=Eric|last7=Hahn|first7=Nathan|last8=Palminteri|first8=Suzanne|last9=Hedao|first9=Prashant|last10=Noss|first10=Reed|last11=Hansen|first11=Matt|last12=Locke|first12=Harvey|last13=Ellis|first13=Erle C|last14=Jones|first14=Benjamin|last15=Barber|first15=Charles Victor|last16=Hayes|first16=Randy|last17=Kormos|first17=Cyril|last18=Martin|first18=Vance|last19=Crist|first19=Eileen|last20=Sechrest|first20=Wes|last21=Price|first21=Lori|last22=Baillie|first22=Jonathan E. M.|last23=Weeden|first23=Don|last24=Suckling|first24=Kierán|last25=Davis|first25=Crystal|last26=Sizer|first26=Nigel|last27=Moore|first27=Rebecca|last28=Thau|first28=David|last29=Birch|first29=Tanya|last30=Potapov|first30=Peter|last31=Turubanova|first31=Svetlana|last32=Tyukavina|first32=Alexandra|last33=de Souza|first33=Nadia|last34=Pintea|first34=Lilian|last35=Brito|first35=José C.|last36=Llewellyn|first36=Othman A.|last37=Miller|first37=Anthony G.|last38=Patzelt|first38=Annette|last39=Ghazanfar|first39=Shahina A.|last40=Timberlake|first40=Jonathan|last41=Klöser|first41=Heinz|last42=Shennan-Farpón|first42=Yara|last43=Kindt|first43=Roeland|last44=Lillesø|first44=Jens-Peter Barnekow|last45=van Breugel|first45=Paulo|last46=Graudal|first46=Lars|last47=Voge|first47=Maianna|last48=Al-Shammari|first48=Khalaf F.|last49=Saleem|first49=Muhammad|display-authors=6|title=An Ecoregion-Based Approach to Protecting Half the Terrestrial Realm|journal=BioScience|volume=67|issue=6|year=2017|pages=534–545|issn=0006-3568|doi=10.1093/biosci/bix014|pmid=28608869|pmc=5451287}}
Islands and reefs
= Southern Cook Islands =
= Northern Cook Islands =
=Table=
| class="sortable wikitable"
! Island ! Island ! Area ! Population ! Density |
| Northern
| Penrhyn | style='text-align:right;' | 10 | style='text-align:right;' | 226 | style='text-align:right;' | 22.6 |
| Northern
| style='text-align:right;' | 4 | style='text-align:right;' | 80 | style='text-align:right;' | 20.0 |
| Northern
| Manihiki | style='text-align:right;' | 5 | style='text-align:right;' | 213 | style='text-align:right;' | 42.6 |
| Northern
| Pukapuka | style='text-align:right;' | 1 | style='text-align:right;' | 444 | style='text-align:right;' | 444.0 |
| Northern
| Tema Reef (submerged) | style='text-align:right;' | 0 | style='text-align:right;' | 0 | style='text-align:right;' | – |
| Northern
| Nassau | style='text-align:right;' | 1 | style='text-align:right;' | 78 | style='text-align:right;' | 78.0 |
| Northern
| Suwarrow | style='text-align:right;' | 0 | style='text-align:right;' | 0 | style='text-align:right;' | 0.0 |
| Southern
| style='text-align:right;' | 2 | style='text-align:right;' | 58 | style='text-align:right;' | 28.0 |
| Southern
| Aitutaki | style='text-align:right;' | 18 | style='text-align:right;' | 1,928 | style='text-align:right;' | 107.1 |
| Southern
| Manuae | style='text-align:right;' | 6 | style='text-align:right;' | 0 | style='text-align:right;' | 0.0 |
| Southern
| Takutea | style='text-align:right;' | 1 | style='text-align:right;' | 0 | style='text-align:right;' | 0.0 |
| Southern
| Mitiaro | style='text-align:right;' | 22 | style='text-align:right;' | 155 | style='text-align:right;' | 7.1 |
| Southern
| Atiu | style='text-align:right;' | 27 | style='text-align:right;' | 437 | style='text-align:right;' | 16.2 |
| Southern
| Mauke | style='text-align:right;' | 18 | style='text-align:right;' | 297 | style='text-align:right;' | 16.5 |
| Southern
| Winslow Reef (submerged) | style='text-align:right;' | 0 | style='text-align:right;' | 0 | style='text-align:right;' | – |
| Southern
| style='text-align:right;' | 67 | style='text-align:right;' | 13,044 | style='text-align:right;' | 194.7 |
| Southern
| Mangaia | style='text-align:right;' | 52 | style='text-align:right;' | 499 | style='text-align:right;' | 9.6 |
| Total
! Total ! style='text-align:right;' | 237 ! style='text-align:right;' | 17,459 ! style='text-align:right;' | 73.7 |
|---|
Note: The table is ordered from north to south. Population figures from the 2016 census.{{Cite web |url=http://www.mfem.gov.ck/census |title=Cook Islands Ministry of Finance and Economic Management, 2016 Census |access-date=11 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170828062044/http://www.mfem.gov.ck/census |archive-date=28 August 2017 |url-status=dead }}
Statistics
; Area:
:* Total: {{convert|236|km2|sqmi|0|abbr=on}}
:* Land: 236 km2
:* Water: 0 km2
; Area - comparative:
: 1.3 times the size of Washington, DC
; Coastline:
: {{convert|120|km|mi|abbr=on}}
; Maritime claims:
:* Territorial sea: {{convert|12|nmi|km mi|1|abbr=on}}
:* Continental shelf: {{convert|200|nmi|km mi|1|abbr=on|lk=in}} or to the edge of the continental margin
:* Exclusive economic zone: {{convert|200|nmi|km mi|1|abbr=on}}
; Climate:
: Tropical; moderated by trade winds; a dry season from April to November and a more humid season from December to March
; Terrain:
: Low coral atolls in north; volcanic, hilly islands in south
; Elevation extremes:
:* Lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m
:* Highest point: Te Manga {{convert|652|m|ft|0|abbr=on}}
; Natural resources:
: coconuts
; Land use:
:* Arable land: 4.17%
:* Permanent crops: 4.17%
:* Other: 91.67% (2012 est.)
:
; Natural hazards:
: Typhoons (November to March)
: Tsunamis (Year-round)
; Time Zone:
: UTC -10 (GMT -10)
; Largest Island:
; Environment - international agreements
:* Party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
{{CIA World Factbook}}