Tobago

Geography of Tobago

  • Location: Caribbean, islands between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, northeast of Trinidad.

    Tobago and the sister island of Trinidad are the southernmost islands of the Lesser Antilles, located close to the South American continental shelf . Tobago is located thirty kilometres northeast of Trinidad, from which it is separated by a channel 37 kilometres (23 miles) wide. The island is 42 kilometres (26 miles) long and 13 kilometres (8 miles) wide, with a total area of 300 square kilometres (116 square miles). Tobago is cigar-shaped in appearance and has a northeast-southwest alignment. Geologically, the islands are not part of the Antillean arc. Rather, Trinidad was once part of the South American mainland, and Tobago is part of a sunken mountain chain related to the continent.

    Tobago is mountainous and dominated by the Main Ridge, which is 29 kilometres (18 miles) long with elevations up to 640 meters (2100ft). There are deep, fertile valleys running north and south of the Main Ridge. The southwestern tip of the island has a coral platform. Although Tobago is volcanic in origin, there are no active volcanoes. Fore station covers 43% of the island. There are numerous rivers and streams, but flooding and erosion are less severe than in Trinidad because of vegetation coverage. The coastline is indented with numerous bays, beaches, and narrow coastal plains.

    Tobago has several small satellite islands. The largest of these, Little Tobago, is starfish shaped, hilly, and consists of 120 hectares of impenetrable rainforest vegetation. The other small islands are Marble Island, London Bridge Rock, St Giles Island, Melville Island to the north; Black Rock and Goat Island near Little Tobago to the north east; the Brothers Rocks and Sisters Rocks to the north west; and Queen's Island, Richmond Island and Smith's Island to the east.

    Tobago is well within the tropics and enjoys a generally pleasant maritime tropical climate influenced by the northeast trade winds. The annual mean temperature is about 26°C (78.8°F), and the average maximum temperature is 33°C (91.4°F). The humidity is high, particularly during the rainy season, when it averages 85- 87%. The island receives an average of 250cm (100in) of rainfall per year, usually concentrated in the months of June through December, when brief, intense showers occur. Tobago lies outside the hurricane belt; despite this, Hurricane Flora damaged Tobago in 1963.

    Because it was once part of South America, the assortment of tropical vegetation and wildlife considerably more varied than that of most West Indian islands.

  • Geographic co-ordinates: 11.00 N, 61.00 W
  • Maps: see MAPS
  • Area: total: 300 square kilometres (116 square miles) land
  • Maritime claims: contiguous zone: 24 nm
  • continental shelf: 200 nm or to the outer edge of the continental margin
  • exclusive economic zone: 200 nm territorial sea: 12 nm
  • Climate: tropical; rainy season (June to December)
  • Terrain: plains with some hills and low mountains
  • Elevation extremes: lowest point: Caribbean Sea 0 m highest point: Pigeon Peak 576m (1887ft)
  • Natural resources: petroleum, natural gas, asphalt produced in Trinidad
  • Land use: arable land: 15% - permanent crops: 9% - permanent pastures: 2% * forests and woodland: 46% - other: 28% * (1993 est.)
  • Irrigated land: 220²km * (1993 est.)
  • Natural hazards: outside usual path of hurricanes and other tropical storms - see http://www.stormcarib.com/ , http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/ and http://weather.unisys.com/hurricane/

    1963 Hurricane Flora hit Tobago. All others tend to be in the northern sector of the Caribbean, leaving Tobago clear, so much so that many yachts sail south to Tobago to weather out the storms of the north.

  • Environment - current issues: water pollution from agricultural chemicals, industrial wastes, and raw sewage; oil pollution of beaches; deforestation; soil erosion Environment - international agreements: party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Life Conservation, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements *

*Trinidad & Tobago - there are no facts for Tobago alone

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