| Vitiaz Strait | |
|---|---|
  Vitiaz Strait | |
| Coordinates | 6°S148°E / 6°S 148°E Coordinates: 6°S148°E / 6°S 148°E |
| Type | strait |
Vitiaz Strait is a strait between New Britain and the Huon Peninsula, northern New Guinea. [1] [2]
The Vitiaz Strait was so named by Nicholai Nicholaievich Mikluho-Maklai to commemorate the Russian corvette Vitiaz in which he sailed from October 1870 by way of South America and the Pacific Islands reaching Astrolabe Bay in September 1871. [3]
The 1200 m deep Vitiaz Strait "was a focus of attention by Australian and USA oceanographers on voyages in 1985, 1986, 1988, 1991 and 1992 as part of the Western Equatorial Pacific Ocean Circulation Study, WEPOCS". [4]
The New Guinea Coastal Undercurrent transports "high-salinity, low-tritium, high-oxygen, low-nutrient water from the Solomon Sea northwestward along the north coast of Papua New Guinea through the Vitiaz Strait". [5]
However, the surface layer current running through the strait, the New Guinea Coastal Current, experiences a seasonal reversal. In boreal summer (northern hemisphere summer) characterized by the south-easterly monsoon, the westward current dominates; during boreal winter (northern hemisphere winter) under the influence of the northwesterly monsoonal winds, the eastward flow dominates. [6]
Abel Tasman sighted Umboi Island in the Vitiaz Strait in 1643 but failed to realise that the Strait separated the island from the coast of New Guinea. [7] William Dampier charted the passage now named Dampier Strait between Umboi Island and New Britain in 1700 [8] Dampier had established that the land mass he named New Britain was an island. As he sailed northwesterly through the passage, Dampier charted and named various islands which lay between the Dampier and Vitiaz Straits: Sir George Rook's Island (later Rooke Island, now Umboi Island), Long Island (Arop Island) and Crown Island. [9]
During the New Guinea Campaign (1942-1945), control of the Vitiaz Strait took on strategic military importance. The Japanese landed two battalions at Lae and Salamaua on the Huon Gulf on 8 March 1942 giving them control of the Dampier and Vitiaz Straits. [10] Japanese forces lost control of the Vitiaz and Dampier Straits after the capture of Finschhafen by Australian troops and the later landing of American forces on New Britain (December 1943). [11] General Douglas MacArthur announced that Rooke Island (now called Umboi Island) had been occupied on Saturday 12 February 1944 by American forces who met no opposition. [12] [13] Allied control was made secure by landings in the Admiralty Islands on 29 February 1944. [14]
| General | |
|---|---|
| National libraries | |
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, and is bounded by the continents of Asia and Australia in the west and the Americas in the east.
New Britain is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago, part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from New Guinea by a northwest corner of the Solomon Sea and from New Ireland by St. George's Channel. The main towns of New Britain are Rabaul/Kokopo and Kimbe. The island is roughly the size of Taiwan. While the island was part of German New Guinea, it was named Neupommern . In common with most of the Bismarcks it was largely formed by volcanic processes, and has active volcanoes including Ulawun, Langila, the Garbuna Group, the Sulu Range, and the volcanoes Tavurvur and Vulcan of the Rabaul caldera. A major eruption of Tavurvur in 1994 destroyed the East New Britain provincial capital of Rabaul. Most of the town still lies under metres of ash, and the capital has been moved to nearby Kokopo.
Kaiser-Wilhelmsland formed part of German New Guinea, the South Pacific protectorate of the German Empire. Named in honour of Wilhelm I, who reigned as German Emperor from 1871 to 1888, it included the northern part of present-day Papua New Guinea. From 1884 until 1920 the territory was a protectorate of the German Empire. Kaiser-Wilhelmsland, the Bismarck Archipelago, the northern Solomon Islands, the Caroline Islands, Palau, Nauru, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Marshall Islands comprised German New Guinea.
The Bismarck Sea lies in the southwestern Pacific Ocean within the nation of Papua New Guinea. It is located northeast of the island of New Guinea and south of the Bismarck Archipelago. It has coastlines in districts of the Islands Region, Momase Region, and Papua Region.
Madang is a province of Papua New Guinea. The province is on the northern coast of mainland Papua New Guinea and has many of the country's highest peaks, active volcanoes and its biggest mix of languages. The capital is the town of Madang.
Madang is the capital of Madang Province and is a town with a population of 27,420 on the north coast of Papua New Guinea. It was first settled by the Germans in the 19th century.
Milne Bay is a large bay in Milne Bay Province, south-eastern Papua New Guinea. More than 35 kilometres long and over 15 kilometres wide, Milne Bay is a sheltered deep-water harbor accessible via Ward Hunt Strait. It is surrounded by the heavily wooded Stirling Range to the north and south, and on the northern shore, a narrow coastal strip, soggy with sago and mangrove swamps. The bay is named after Sir Alexander Milne.
Dampier Strait may refer to either of two different straits with the same name which are located near the same island of New Guinea:
The Battle of Cape Gloucester was fought in the Pacific theater of World War II between Japanese and Allied forces on the island of New Britain, Territory of New Guinea, between 26 December 1943 and 16 January 1944. Codenamed Operation Backhander, the US landing formed part of the wider Operation Cartwheel, the main Allied strategy in the South West Pacific Area and Pacific Ocean Areas during 1943–1944. It was the second landing the US 1st Marine Division had conducted during the war thus far, after Guadalcanal. The objective of the operation was to capture the two Japanese airfields near Cape Gloucester that were defended by elements of the Japanese 17th Division.
Umboi is a volcanic island between the mainland of Papua New Guinea and the island of New Britain. It is separated from New Britain by the Dampier Strait and Huon Peninsula, and New Guinea by the Vitiaz Strait. It has an elevation of 1,335 metres.
The white-striped dorcopsis or greater forest wallaby is a species of marsupial in the family Macropodidae. It is found in the northern part of West Papua, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. It is a common species in suitable tropical forest habitat and the IUCN lists its conservation status as being of "Least concern".
Dampier Strait in Papua New Guinea separates Umboi Island and New Britain, linking the Bismarck Sea to the north with the deeper Solomon Sea to the south.
New Guinea is the world's second-largest island with an area of 785,753 km2 (303,381 sq mi). Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the 150-kilometre wide Torres Strait, though both landmasses lie on the same continental shelf. Numerous smaller islands are located to the west and east. The eastern half of the island is the major land mass of the independent state of Papua New Guinea. The western half, known as Western New Guinea, forms a part of Indonesia and is organized as the provinces of Papua, Central Papua, Highland Papua, South Papua, and West Papua. The largest cities on the island are Jayapura and Port Moresby.
Kelanoa Harbour is a harbour on the north coast of the Huon Peninsula in Papua New Guinea serving the town of Kelanoa. It is a large bay with an impenetrable reef and a small island.
Vityaz was a steam corvette of the Baltic Fleet of the Imperial Russian Navy. Later renamed Skobelev, Vityaz spent much of its career as an oceanographic research vessel, completing two circumnavigations of the world in this capacity.
On the morning of March 13, 1888, an explosion took place on Ritter Island, a small volcanic island in the Bismarck and Solomon Seas, between New Britain and Umboi Island. This event is the largest volcanic island sector collapse in recent history.
Low-latitude western boundary currents (LLWBC) are western boundary currents located between the subtropical gyres, within 20° of the equator. They are important for closing the tropical circulation driven by the equatorial zonal flow, and facilitate inter-ocean transport between the subtropical gyres. They occur in regions of negative (positive) wind stress curl in the southern (northern) hemisphere, and originate at the western bifurcation point of the South or North Equatorial Current. They are typically equatorward (cyclonic) as opposed to sub-tropical western boundary currents, which tend to be poleward (anticyclonic). Some well-known examples include the Mindanao Current (MC) and the East African Coastal Current (EACC).
On September 9, 2002, a magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck off the coast of Wewak, Sandaun Province, Papua New Guinea. The shallow reverse earthquake triggered a local tsunami measuring 5 meters high. The disaster resulted in at least six deaths, 70 injuries and building damage.
