MicronesiaCaroline IslandsVolcanic island
Kosrae
109 km² rising to 634 m out of the Pacific Ocean.
Satellite: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX (CC BY 4.0). Outline and points © OpenStreetMap contributors / Natural Earth. North up.
In numbers
109km²
Area
65km
Coastline
634m
Highest point
5,092
People
30°C
Warmest sea
September
2,863km
To the mainland
When to go to Kosrae
Best for the beach from January to May.
The sea is warmest in September (30 °C) and coolest in February (29 °C). You can swim comfortably all year (21 °C or more).
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.
Island in Federated States of Micronesia
Kosrae is an volcanic island in Micronesia. It belongs to Caroline Islands. It covers 109 km², with 65 km of coastline. Its highest point rises to 634 m. About 5,092 people live on it. The nearest mainland is 2,863 km away.
Getting there
- Kosrae International Airport (KSA)airport on the island, with scheduled flights
- 2,863 km from the mainlanddistance to the nearest continental coast
- From January to Maybest months to go (from 30 years of averages)
Plan the trip
Ferries, stays and things to do
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
On the island
What you find on Kosrae.
- 1beaches
- 1viewpoints
- 9named peaksFinol Finkol, Finol Oma, Finol Tafuyat and 6 more
- 1ruins and archaeological sitesLikinlulem
- 2hotels, guesthouses and apartments
- 1restaurants, cafés and bars
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, inside the island's outline. A low number may only mean nobody has mapped it yet.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Kosrae in our other atlases
Everything Coastya, Peakyas, Lakeyas and Cascadyas know about what lies inside Kosrae, each with its own numbers.
16mountainsPeakyas
16 mountains
on Peakyas, the mountain atlas
- Mount Finkol
- Yoal
- Putuk
- Finol Mutunte
- Mwot
- Newot
- Finol Okat
- Falwe
8 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗
The shape of the land.
On average the island stands 115 m above the sea. 79 % of it is below 200 m.
- 38 %0–50 m
- 42 %50–200 m
- 20 %200–500 m
- <1 %500–1,000 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.
10 km
All outlines drawn to the same scale (Natural Earth and OpenStreetMap).
Towns on the island
- Tofol9,686 people
- Malem1,039 people
- Utwe781 people
- Tafunsakno census figure
Month by month
The weather on the island.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon high (°C) | 29 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 29 | 29 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 29 | 29 |
| Night low (°C) | 28 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 28 |
| Sea (°C) | 29 | 29 | 29 | 29 | 29 | 29 | 29 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 29 |
| Rain (mm) | 255 | 223 | 261 | 350 | 292 | 248 | 256 | 224 | 226 | 226 | 253 | 304 |
| Wet days | 25 | 21 | 25 | 26 | 28 | 28 | 29 | 27 | 26 | 26 | 25 | 26 |
| Sun h/day | 6.1 | 6.4 | 6.4 | 5.6 | 6.2 | 6.4 | 6.7 | 7.2 | 7.0 | 6.9 | 6.1 | 5.8 |
| Wind (km/h) | 26 | 26 | 25 | 23 | 20 | 18 | 15 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 17 | 23 |
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 | +0.9 | +0.8 | +0.6 | +0.3 | +0.5 | +0.7 | +0.5 | +0.6 | +0.5 | +0.6 | +0.4 | +0.2 |
| 2021 | −0.2 | −0.2 | +0.2 | +0.4 | +0.1 | +0.2 | ±0.0 | +0.2 | +0.2 | +0.6 | +0.3 | +0.3 |
| 2022 | +0.4 | +0.3 | +0.3 | +0.3 | ±0.0 | +0.1 | −0.5 | −0.3 | −0.1 | −0.3 | +0.1 | +0.3 |
| 2023 | +0.4 | +0.2 | +0.6 | +0.8 | +0.4 | +0.6 | +0.5 | +0.5 | +0.7 | +0.3 | +0.2 | −0.1 |
| 2024 | +0.3 | +0.3 | +0.5 | +0.7 | +0.6 | +0.7 | +0.6 | +0.9 | +1.0 | +0.9 | +0.9 | +0.6 |
| 2025 | +0.5 | +0.6 | +0.4 | ±0.0 | +0.1 | +0.3 | +0.3 | +0.6 | +0.5 | +0.4 | +0.2 | +0.5 |
+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual
Photos
Seen by visitors.




About these numbers
| Names, area, population | Wikidata (Q459848) · 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 |
| Beaches, mountains, lakes and waterfalls | Peakyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.