North Iwo Jima


North Iwo Jima is the northernmost island of the Volcano Islands group of the Bonin Islands, 80 km north of Iwo Jima. It is located south of Tokyo, and south-southwest of Chichijima.

Geography

The island consists of the heavily eroded peak of an active stratovolcano, which rises above sea level. Measuring, it is the largest volcano in Japan by volume. The peak is called Sakagi-ga-mine, with another peak at Shimizu-ga-mine. It has an area of, and it has a shore length of. It is an uninhabited part of the municipality of Ogasawara. Its Japanese name was changed to Kita-Iōtō on 18 June 2007.

History

First sighting by Europeans was in October 1543 by Spanish navigator Bernardo de la Torre on board of carrack San Juan de Letrán, when trying to return from Sarangani to New Spain.
The island was formerly inhabited. It was first settled by settlers from the Izu Islands in 1889, who lived in two towns, Ishinomura and Nishimura. At the start of World War II, the population was 103. The civilian population was evacuated during the war.
Unincorporated until 1940, it became part of the newly created municipality of Iōtō in 1940, which was included in the town of Ogasawara in 1968 upon the return of the islands by the United States to Japan.
Four men, flying a United States Navy S-3B Viking jet from the U.S. aircraft carrier John C. Stennis, died when their aircraft crashed on 10 August 2004 on North Iwo Jima during a naval exercise over the Pacific Ocean. They were Lt. Cmdr. Scott A. Zellem, 35, of Indiana, Pennsylvania; Lt. Patrick S. Myrick, 31, of Seattle; Lt. James J. Pupplo, 34, of Selden, New York; and Petty Officer 2nd Class Joshua B. Showalter, 24, of Fontana, California.

2009 total solar eclipse

During the solar eclipse of 22 July 2009, the island had nearly six and a half minutes of totality, longer than any other land mass.