Tokelau / United States
Satellite: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX (CC BY 4.0). Outline and points © OpenStreetMap contributors / Natural Earth. North up.
In numbers
152km²
Area
44km
Coastline
4m
Highest point
17
People
30°C
Warmest sea
April
4,233km
To the mainland
When to go to Swains Island
Best for the beach from January to May.
The sea is warmest in April (30 °C) and coolest in August (28 °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.
Remote coral atoll of American Samoa, United States of America
Swains Island is an atoll in Tokelau. It covers 152 km², with 44 km of coastline. Its highest point rises to 4 m. About 17 people live on it. The nearest mainland is 4,233 km away.
Getting there
- Faleolo International Airport (APW)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 325 km in a straight line
- 4,233 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
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On the island
What you find on Swains Island.
- 1beaches
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
Swains Island in our other atlases
Everything Coastya, Peakyas, Lakeyas and Cascadyas know about what lies inside Swains Island, each with its own numbers.
1lakeLakeyas
Largest lake
0.93km²
Swains Brackish Lagoon
according to Lakeyas
1 lakes
on Lakeyas, the lake atlas
- Swains Brackish Lagoon0.93km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
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.
10 km
All outlines drawn to the same scale (Natural Earth and OpenStreetMap).
Towns on the island
- Taulaga37 people
Month by month
The weather on the island.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon high (°C) | 29 | 29 | 29 | 29 | 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 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 29 | 29 | 28 | 29 | 29 | 29 | 29 |
| Rain (mm) | 322 | 276 | 193 | 153 | 136 | 118 | 119 | 100 | 115 | 169 | 215 | 260 |
| Wet days | 25 | 23 | 24 | 21 | 22 | 19 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 23 | 25 | 25 |
| Sun h/day | 6.4 | 6.2 | 7.4 | 7.6 | 7.5 | 7.4 | 7.6 | 7.8 | 8.2 | 7.7 | 7.3 | 6.8 |
| Wind (km/h) | 19 | 19 | 17 | 16 | 18 | 22 | 24 | 24 | 23 | 19 | 17 | 18 |
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 | −0.1 | +0.3 | +0.4 | +0.9 | +0.7 | +0.5 | +0.6 | +0.7 | +0.5 | +0.1 | +0.2 | ±0.0 |
| 2021 | ±0.0 | ±0.0 | −0.2 | −0.1 | ±0.0 | +0.3 | +0.3 | +0.3 | +0.1 | −0.1 | +0.2 | ±0.0 |
| 2022 | −0.1 | −0.3 | −0.3 | −0.2 | −0.2 | −0.1 | −0.3 | −0.4 | −0.5 | −0.5 | ±0.0 | ±0.0 |
| 2023 | ±0.0 | +0.1 | +0.1 | +0.4 | +0.1 | +0.6 | +0.7 | +0.7 | +0.7 | +0.7 | +0.8 | +0.5 |
| 2024 | +1.3 | +0.5 | +1.2 | +1.5 | +1.2 | +0.8 | +0.6 | +0.1 | +0.3 | +0.4 | +0.5 | +0.5 |
| 2025 | +0.4 | +0.6 | +0.5 | +0.4 | +0.5 | +0.4 | +0.5 | +0.6 | +0.5 | +0.2 | +0.4 | +0.5 |
+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual
Photos
Seen by visitors.
Nearby
More islands nearby.
New Zealand
Samoa
About these numbers
| Names, area, population | Wikidata (Q1128488) · 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 | Lakeyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES (Messager et al. 2016) · CC BY 4.0, LakeTEMP (Korver et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0 |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
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