June 21, 2023, Solstice Is Wintry for American Samoa and Jarvis Island

Summary: The June 21, 2023, solstice is wintry for American Samoa and Jarvis Island, the only two United Statesian possessions in the Southern Hemisphere.

Earth at instant of 2023 June solstice, which initiates Northern Hemisphere's astronomical summer and Southern Hemisphere's astronomical winter on Wednesday, June 21, 2023, at 14:58 Coordinated Universal Time; NASA Blue Marble Earth map 2023-06-21 14:58:00 UTC (Julian: 2460117.12361) at 23 degrees 26 minutes North, 44 degrees 3 minutes West, altitude 152020181: John Walker/Earth and Moon Viewer, Public Doman, via Fourmilab Switzerland

The Wednesday, June 21, 2023, solstice is wintry for American Samoa and Jarvis Island as the only two United Statesian possessions located in the Southern Hemisphere.

Earth's two solstices, in June and December, initiate astronomical summer and winter, respectively, in the Northern Hemisphere. Contrastingly, the Southern Hemisphere experiences the solstices oppositely from the Northern Hemisphere. Astronomical winter and summer associate with the June and December solstices, respectively, for Earth's southern half.

The first solstice of 2023 takes place Wednesday, June 21, at 14:58 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), according to EarthSky's Sunday, Jan. 1, 2023, post, "2023 June solstice: all you need to know." The Northern Hemisphere recognizes the annual astronomical event as a summer solstice whereas the Southern Hemisphere oppositely designates the June event as a winter solstice.

American Samoa and Jarvis Island observe Samoa Standard Time (SST), which offsets UTC by 11 hours, as indicated by its identifier, UTC-11. The June solstice occurs Wednesday, June 21, 2023, at 3:58 a.m. SST, according to Time Zone Converter -- Time Difference Calculator (Classic) on the Time and Date website. As Southern Hemisphere occupiers, American Samoa and Jarvis Island experience the June solstice as the initiator of astronomical winter.

Jarvis Island lies near the Equator in the South Pacific Ocean. The Southern Hemisphere coral island groups in the Line Islands (Gilbertese: Aono Raina), an Equator-straddling chain of atolls and coral islands in the Central Pacific Ocean.

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) places Jarvis Island in the United States Minor Outlying Islands, according to entry code ISO 3166-2:UM. The statistical designation references nine United Statesian insular areas. Eight Minor Outlying Islands are located in the Pacific Ocean: Baker Island, Howland Island, Jarvis Island, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef, Midway Atoll, Palmyra Atoll and Wake Island. Navassa Island numbers as the only United States Minor Outlying Island in the Caribbean Sea.

Baker Island and Howland Island neighbor within the first degree of latitude in the equatorial central North Pacific Ocean. Their placement northwest of Jarvis Island qualifies them as Jarvis Island's nearest neighbors among the United States Minor Outlying Islands. The uninhabited atolls observe Anywhere on Earth -- AoE Time Zone (Standard Time), which offsets UTC by 12 hours (UTC-12). The June solstice initiates astronomical summer Wednesday, June 21, 2023, at 2:58 a.m. AoE, on Baker and Howland islands.

Jarvis Island is administered as an unincorporated, uninhabited United Statesian territory under the National Wildlife Refuge System (NWRS) by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), an agency in the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI). On Thursday, June 24, 1974, during his tenure (Jan. 29, 1971-April 30, 1975) as 39th United States Secretary of the Interior, Rogers Clark Ballard Morton (Sep. 19, 1914-April 19, 1979) created the Jarvis Island National Wildlife Refuge. On Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2009, during his second term (Jan. 20, 2005-Jan. 20, 2009) as 43rd President of the United States (POTUS), George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) proclaimed an upgrade of the entity from refuge to national monument as part of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument (PRIMNM).

American Samoa (Samoan: Amerika Sāmoa) is an unincorporated United Statesian territory. American Samoa comprises five volcanic islands and two coral atolls. Tutuila is American Samoa's largest island. Aunu'u neighbors to the southeast of Tutuila. The Manu'a island group of Ofu, Olosega and Tau congregate to the west of Tutuila. Rose Atoll's placement to the southeast of the territory's five volcanic islands qualifies the uninhabited wildlife refuge as American Samoa's easternmost and southernmost point. Rose Atoll also marks the southernmost point of the United States. Swains Island's (Samoan: Olosega; Tokelauan: Olohega) location far north-northwest of Tutuila marks American Samoa's northernmost point.

The Wednesday, June 21, 2023, solstice numbers as the first of the year's two solstices. The second solstice occurs Friday, Dec. 22, at 3:27 UTC, according to Deborah Byrd in "2023 December solstice: All you need to know," advance published for Dec. 21, 2023, on her EarthSky website. American Samoa and Jarvis Island experience their second 2023 solstice Thursday, Dec. 21, at 4:27 p.m. SST. The December solstice opens astronomical summer for American Samoa and Jarvis Island while the rest of the United States confront astronomical winter.

American Samoa comprises the five volcanic islands of Aunu'u, Tutuila and Manu'a islands (Samoan: Manuʻa tele) of Ofu, Olosega and Taʻū and two coral atolls of Rose Atoll and Swains Island; the International Date Line (IDL) distinguishes American Samoa from western neighbor, the Independent State of Samoa (Samoan: Malo Saʻoloto Tutoʻatasi o Sāmoa); NOAA NOS (National Ocean Service) Office of Coast Survey's Esri, GEBCO (General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans) and NOAA NGDC (National Geophysical Data Center) map of American Samoa: via NOAA NMS (National Marine Sanctuaries)

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

Jarvis Island (center right) and American Samoa (center bottom) in the South Pacific Ocean; Map of Kiribati in the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency's The World Factbook, also known as the CIA World Factbook : Public Domain, via CIA The World Factbook @ https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/kiribati/map

American Samoa comprises the five volcanic islands of Aunu'u, Tutuila and Manu'a islands (Samoan: Manuʻa tele) of Ofu, Olosega and Taʻū and two coral atolls of Rose Atoll and Swains Island; the International Date Line (IDL) distinguishes American Samoa from western neighbor, the Independent State of Samoa (Samoan: Malo Saʻoloto Tutoʻatasi o Sāmoa); NOAA NOS (National Ocean Service) Office of Coast Survey's Esri, GEBCO (General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans) and NOAA NGDC (National Geophysical Data Center) map of American Samoa: via NOAA NMS (National Marine Sanctuaries) @ https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/science/sentinel-site-program/american-samoa/map.html

For further information:

Bikos, Konstantin Bikos; Aparna Kher; and Graham Jones. "June Solstice: Shortest and Longest Day of the Year." Time and Date > Sun & Moon > Equinox & Solstice > Summer Solstice.
Available @ https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/june-solstice.html

Byrd, Deborah. "2023 December solstice: All you need to know." EarthSky > Tonight > Astronomy Essentials. Dec. 21, 2023.
Available @ https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/everything-you-need-to-know-december-solstice/v Editors of EarthSky. "2023 June solstice: All you need to know." EarthSky > Tonight > Astronomy Essentials. Jan. 21, 2023.
Available @ https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/everything-you-need-to-know-june-solstice/

Editors of EarthSky. "How to translate UTC to your time." EarthSky > Tonight > Astronomy Essentials. Jan. 1, 2018.
Available @ https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/universal-time/

Frazier, Sarah; and Katy Mersmann. "Summer Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere." NASA > Topics > Earth. June 18, 2021.
Available @ https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2021/summer-solstice-in-the-northern-hemisphere

Harbaugh, Jennifer. "June Solstice Brings Summer, Winter Seasons." NASA Watch the Skies. June 17, 2021.
Available @ https://blogs.nasa.gov/Watch_the_Skies/2021/06/17/june-solstice-brings-summer-winter-seasons/

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. "First 2023 Solstice Happens Wednesday, June 21, at 14:58 UTC." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, June 14, 2023.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2023/06/first-2023-solstice-happens-wednesday.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "June Signals Winter Solstice for American Samoa and Jarvis Island." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, June 19, 2019.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2019/06/june-signals-winter-solstice-for.html

Time and Date. "Year 2024 June Solstice: Jun 20 20:50 UTC." Time and Date > Sun & Moon > Seasons > Solstices & Equinoxes for UTC (Surrounding 10 Years).
Available @ https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/seasons.html