AustraliaLord Howe Island GroupIslandUNESCO World Heritage
Ball's Pyramid
0.25 km² rising to 572 m out of the Tasman Sea.
Satellite: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX (CC BY 4.0). Outline and points © OpenStreetMap contributors / Natural Earth. North up.
In numbers
0.25km²
Area
4km
Coastline
572m
Highest point
0
People
24°C
Warmest sea
February
591km
To the mainland
When to go to Ball's Pyramid
Best for the beach from January to April.
The sea is warmest in February (24 °C) and coolest in August (19 °C). Comfortable swimming (21 °C or more): from December to May.
Averages 1991–2020. Sea: NOAA OISST, the water within 35 km of the coast. Air, rain and sun: NASA POWER. Best months weigh warm afternoons (23–30 °C), sea of 24 °C or more and few wet days.
An island and an erosional remnant of a shield volcano southeast of Lord Howe Island in the Pacific
Ball's Pyramid is an island in Australia. It belongs to Lord Howe Island Group. It covers 0.25 km², with 4 km of coastline. Its highest point rises to 572 m. Nobody lives on it. The nearest mainland is 591 km away. It is part of a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Getting there
- 591 km from the mainlanddistance to the nearest continental coast
- From January to Aprilbest months to go (from 30 years of averages)
Plan the trip
Ferries, stays and things to do
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On the island
What you find on Ball's Pyramid.
- 1named peaksBall's Pyramid
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, inside the island's outline. A low number may only mean nobody has mapped it yet.
The shape of the land.
On average the island stands 1 m above the sea. 100 % of it is below 200 m.
- 100 %0–50 m
Share of the island's area in each altitude band, from the Copernicus DEM (30 m, read at 30–240 m on large islands).
Size, for real
Next to islands you may know.
0.2 km
All outlines drawn to the same scale (Natural Earth and OpenStreetMap).
Month by month
The weather on the island.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon high (°C) | 23 | 24 | 23 | 22 | 20 | 19 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 22 |
| Night low (°C) | 22 | 23 | 22 | 21 | 19 | 18 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 21 |
| Sea (°C) | 24 | 24 | 24 | 23 | 22 | 21 | 20 | 19 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 |
| Rain (mm) | 82 | 70 | 86 | 83 | 62 | 89 | 87 | 73 | 68 | 91 | 88 | 80 |
| Wet days | 14 | 11 | 12 | 11 | 10 | 13 | 14 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 13 |
| Sun h/day | 9.3 | 8.8 | 7.9 | 7.1 | 6.2 | 5.1 | 5.8 | 6.8 | 8.0 | 8.6 | 9.1 | 9.2 |
| Wind (km/h) | 24 | 24 | 23 | 24 | 26 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 26 | 25 | 24 | 24 |
Averages 1991–2020 for the ~55 km NASA POWER cell over the island; the sea from NOAA OISST.
Recent years
Warmer and cooler years at sea.
Each month's sea temperature compared with its 1991–2020 average, in degrees.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | +0.6 | +0.5 | +0.4 | +0.1 | +0.1 | +0.6 | +1.1 | +0.6 | +0.1 | +1.1 | +1.0 | −0.1 |
| 2021 | +0.3 | −0.9 | −1.0 | −0.6 | −0.5 | −0.7 | ±0.0 | −0.1 | −0.2 | +0.2 | +0.5 | +0.8 |
| 2022 | +0.3 | −0.6 | −0.5 | −0.6 | −0.2 | −0.3 | −0.6 | −0.9 | −0.2 | +0.1 | −0.5 | −1.4 |
| 2023 | −0.6 | −0.3 | +0.3 | +0.3 | −0.9 | −1.4 | −1.0 | −0.4 | ±0.0 | +0.2 | +0.4 | +1.2 |
| 2024 | +1.3 | +2.0 | +1.5 | +0.8 | +0.3 | +1.2 | +0.8 | +0.6 | +0.7 | +0.7 | +0.9 | +1.7 |
| 2025 | +0.7 | +0.3 | +0.8 | +0.6 | +0.5 | +0.3 | −0.1 | −0.2 | ±0.0 | +0.3 | +1.0 | +0.5 |
+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual
Photos
Seen by visitors.
Nearby
More islands nearby.
About these numbers
| Names, area, population | Wikidata (Q152872) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Outline | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Sea temperature | NOAA OISST v2.1 · 1991–2020 |
| Climate | NASA POWER · 1991–2020 |
| Relief, 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Beaches, ports, lighthouses, trails | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Towns | GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
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