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France FranceAtoll

Clipperton Island

8.9 km² of land in the Pacific Ocean.

When to go

Clipperton Island seen from space, cut out from the sea (Sentinel-2)
N 0.5 km

Satellite: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX (CC BY 4.0). Outline and points © OpenStreetMap contributors / Natural Earth. North up.

In numbers

8.9km²

Area

11km

Coastline

29m

Highest point

Clipperton Rock

0

People

29°C

Warmest sea

May

1,086km

To the mainland

When to go to Clipperton Island

Best for the beach from January to May.

The sea is warmest in May (29 °C) and coolest in January (27 °C). You can swim comfortably all year (21 °C or more).

Sea temperature (the water level) Air: night low to afternoon high Wet days Best months

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.

French atoll in the Pacific Ocean

Clipperton Island is an atoll in France. It covers 8.9 km², with 11 km of coastline. Its highest point, Clipperton Rock, rises to 29 m. Nobody lives on it. The nearest mainland is 1,086 km away.

Read more on Wikipedia

Getting there

  • 1,086 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 Clipperton Island.

  • 2beaches
  • 2marinasPoint de débarquement
  • 1named peaksClipperton Rock
  • 1ruins and archaeological sitesPhare de Clipperton

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

Clipperton Island in our other atlases

Everything Coastya, Peakyas, Lakeyas and Cascadyas know about what lies inside Clipperton Island, each with its own numbers.

  • 1mountainPeakyas
  • Highest point

    29m

    Clipperton Rock

    according to Peakyas

1 mountains

on Peakyas, the mountain atlas

  1. Clipperton Rock29m

Open Peakyas ↗

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.

Clipperton Island9 km²
Capri10 km²
Manhattan54 km²

5 km

All outlines drawn to the same scale (Natural Earth and OpenStreetMap).

Month by month

The weather on the island.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Afternoon high (°C)272728282828282827272727
Night low (°C)262627282827272727272727
Sea (°C)272828292929282828282828
Rain (mm)1076244123323354409415348310215120
Wet days161210182527292926272319
Sun h/day7.38.08.77.85.95.85.35.25.55.86.67.4
Wind (km/h)232221191617182022191922

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.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
2020+0.4+0.7+0.7+0.6+0.5+0.4+0.7+0.8+0.5+0.6±0.0+0.1
2021+0.2+0.3+0.2+0.2±0.0−0.1+0.3−0.2±0.0+0.6+0.1−0.3
2022+0.4±0.0+0.3+0.3+0.2−0.5+0.1−0.1−0.6+0.1+0.5−0.4
2023−0.3−0.5+0.3+0.2+0.4+0.5+0.5+0.7+0.9+1.3+0.9+0.5
2024+0.8+0.7+0.6+0.4+0.8+0.7+1.2+0.4+0.8+0.7−0.5−0.1
2025+0.1+0.2+0.3+0.2+0.5+0.1+0.4+0.3+0.6+0.2+0.1+0.2

+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual

About these numbers

Names, area, populationWikidata (Q161258) · CC0
Outline© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
Sea temperatureNOAA OISST v2.1 · 1991–2020
ClimateNASA POWER · 1991–2020
Relief, 3D modelCopernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
Beaches, ports, lighthouses, trails© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
TownsGeoNames · CC BY 4.0
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Beaches, mountains, lakes and waterfallsPeakyas — 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.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit
lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit
mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit
waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit
islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.You are here
riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit