June Signals Winter Solstice for American Samoa and Jarvis Island

Summary: June signals a winter solstice for American Samoa and Jarvis Island, the only two U.S. possessions in the Southern Hemisphere.

Rose Atoll, comprising Rose and Sand islands, is the easternmost point of American Samoa; March 2006 photo of Rose Island by Dr. Jean Kenyon, NOAA/NMFS/PIFSC; NOAA Photo Library, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

June signals a winter solstice for American Samoa and Jarvis Island, the only two U.S. possessions located in the Southern Hemisphere.

The seasonal significance of Earth’s annual pair of solstices (Latin: sōlstitium, from sōl “sun” + sistō “stand still”) links to location in the Northern or Southern Hemispheres. The June solstice opens astronomical summer in the Northern Hemisphere but astronomical winter in the Southern Hemisphere. The June solstice’s counterpart, the December solstice, announces astronomical winter in the Northern Hemisphere and astronomical summer in the Southern Hemisphere.

The United States mostly lies in the Northern Hemisphere. The state of Hawaii and 14 of the United States’ 16 territories join the continental United States as Northern Hemisphere occupiers.

Only two of the United States’ 16 territories claim latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere. The unincorporated U.S. territory of American Samoa and the unincorporated, unorganized U.S. territory of Jarvis Island both lie south of Earth’s equator.

Both American Samoa and Jarvis Island are sited in the South Pacific Ocean. The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) lists geographic coordinates for American Samoa at 14 degrees 20 minutes south latitude and 170 degrees west longitude. Jarvis Island’s CIA geographic coordinates are 0 degrees 22 minutes south latitude and 160 degrees 1 minute west longitude.

The 2019 June solstice occurs Friday, June 21, at 15:54 (3:54 p.m.) UTC. The instant of the 2019 June solstice takes place either Friday, June 21, or Saturday, June 22, according to local time zones.

The CIA’s Map of Standard Time Zones of the World, as of May 2018, places American Samoa and Jarvis Island within the UTC-11 offset. The islands’ negative offset indicates that American Samoa and Jarvis Island lag 11 hours behind Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), the world’s primary standard of time.

Jarvis Island experiences the instant of the 2019 June winter solstice Friday, June 21, at 4:54 a.m. The 2019 June winter solstice happens at the same time, Friday, June 21, at 4:54 a.m., according to Samoa Standard Time (SST).

Midway Atoll claims the earliest occurrence of the 2019 June solstice in the United States as a summer solstice. The instant of the 2019 summer solstice takes place Friday, June 21, at 4:54 a.m. for Midway Atoll.

Midway Atoll belongs to the Hawaiian archipelago. The unorganized, unincorporated U.S. territory has CIA geographic coordinates of 28 degrees 12 minutes north latitude and 177 degrees 22 minutes west longitude. Yet, the atoll of three small islands does not use the same time zone as the rest of the archipelago. The rest of the Hawaiian archipelago observes Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time (HST). HST has an offset of UTC-10, indicating a lag of 10 hours behind Coordinated Universal Time.

Midway Atoll uses the American Samoa time zone, Samoa Standard Time. SST’s offset of UTC-11 places Midway Atoll’s experience of the 2019 summer solstice an hour before the event’s occurrence, Friday, June 21, at 5:54 a.m. HST, on the rest of the Hawaiian archipelago.

The Atlantic Standard Time (AST) and Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) zones claim the latest occurrence of the 2019 June solstice in the United States as a summer solstice. The instant of the 2019 summer solstice takes place Friday, June 21, at 11:54 a.m., according to AST and EDT.

Located in the Caribbean Sea, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands use Atlantic Standard Time, which has an offset of UTC-4 hours. Atlantic Standard Time coincides with the United States’ eastern time zone during daylight saving time, March to November. Eastern Standard Time has an offset of UTC-5, but Eastern Daylight Time reduces the offset to UTC-4.

The 2019 June solstice’s counterpart, the 2019 December solstice, takes place 6 months 12 hours 25 minutes later. The year’s second solstice happens Sunday, Dec. 22, at 04:19 (4:19 a.m.), according to Coordinated Universal Time.

For American Samoa and Jarvis Island, the end-of-the-year solstice opens astronomical summer. The instant of the islands’ summer solstice occurs Saturday, Dec. 21, 2019, at 5:19 p.m.

The takeaway for the June signal of a winter solstice for American Samoa and Jarvis Island is that, as the only two U.S. possessions in the Southern Hemisphere, the South Pacific islands experience seasons oppositely from the rest of the United States.

Jarvis Island; NASA image April 4, 2007, via ISS (International Space Station) Expedition 14: NASA Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth, Public Domain, via NASA JSC EOL (Earth Observing Laboratory)

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Rose Atoll, comprising Rose and Sand islands, is the easternmost point of American Samoa; March 2006 photo of Rose Island by Dr. Jean Kenyon, NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)/NMFS (National Marine Fisheries Service)/PIFSC (Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center): NOAA Photo Library, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/noaaphotolib/5123384106/

Jarvis Island; NASA image April 4, 2007, via ISS (International Space Station) Expedition 14: NASA Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth, Public Domain, via NASA JSC EOL (Earth Observing Laboratory) @ https://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/SearchPhotos/photo.pl?mission=ISS014&roll=E&frame=18970

For further information:

Espenak, Fred. “Solstices and Equinoxes: 2001 to 2100.” Astro Pixels > Ephemeris.
Available @ http://www.astropixels.com/ephemeris/soleq2001.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “2019 June Solstice Happens Friday, June 21, or Saturday, June 22.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday. June 12, 2019.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2019/06/2019-june-solstice-happens-friday-june.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "American Samoa Has Summer Solstice As Rest of U.S. Has Winter Solstice." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2018.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/12/american-samoa-has-summer-solstice-as.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “March Signals Autumn Equinox for American Samoa and Jarvis Island.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, March 20, 2019.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2019/03/march-signals-autumn-equinox-for.html

U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. “Field Listing: Geographic Coordinates.” Central Intelligence Agency > Library > Publications > The World Factbook.
Available @ https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2011.html

U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. “Standard Time Zones of the World, May 2018.” Central Intelligence Agency > Library > Publications > The World Factbook.
Available @ https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/graphics/ref_maps/physical/pdf/standard_time_zones_of_the_world.pdf