Rossel Island (Yela)
Encyclopedia
Louisiade Archipelago
The Louisiade Archipelago is a string of ten larger volcanic islands frequently fringed by coral reefs, and 90 smaller coral islands located 200 km southeast of New Guinea, stretching over more than and spread over an ocean area of between the Solomon Sea to the north and the Coral Sea to...
, which itself is part of the Milne Bay Province
Milne Bay Province
Milne Bay is a province of Papua New Guinea. Its capital is Alotau. The province covers 14,000 km² of land and 252,990 km² of sea, within the province there are more than 600 islands, about 160 of which are inhabited...
of Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...
. The volcanic
Volcano
2. Bedrock3. Conduit 4. Base5. Sill6. Dike7. Layers of ash emitted by the volcano8. Flank| 9. Layers of lava emitted by the volcano10. Throat11. Parasitic cone12. Lava flow13. Vent14. Crater15...
island measures 34 km east-west, and is up to 11 km wide. With an area of 262.5 km², it is the second largest island of the archipelago, after Vanatinai
Vanatinai
Vanatinai or Tagula is a volcanic island in the south-east of the Louisiade Archipelago within Milne Bay Province of Papua New Guinea. The reef fringed island is approximately south-east of New Guinea. With an area of , it is the largest island of the archipelago. Vanatinai town, the main...
. In 1978, the population was estimated at 3,000. The indigenous people speak the Yélî Dnye language
Yélî Dnye language
The Yélî Dnye language, also known as Yele, is the language of Rossel island, the easternmost island in the Louisiade Archipelago off the eastern tip of Papua New Guinea. For now it is best considered a language isolate, but it may turn out to be related to the Anêm and Ata language isolates of New...
, a language isolate
Language isolate
A language isolate, in the absolute sense, is a natural language with no demonstrable genealogical relationship with other languages; that is, one that has not been demonstrated to descend from an ancestor common with any other language. They are in effect language families consisting of a single...
. The main village is Jinjo, on the east coast. Rossel Island is thickly wooded and nearly the whole south coast is a dense forest. The higher parts of the island are almost
constantly cloud capped during the southeast monsoon
Monsoon
Monsoon is traditionally defined as a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation, but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with the asymmetric heating of land and sea...
.
The highest elevation is Mount Rossel, near the eastern end of the island, which rises 838 metres. This precipitous peak has steep ridges extending to the north and west, but it descends in more gentle slopes southeast to Cape Deliverance, the eastern end of the island. The southwest ridge has two conspicuous peaks each 549 metres high. The eastern peak, Mount Mo, is flat-topped. The western peak is conical. At the western end of the island is a conspicuous conical peak 347 metres high.
The fringing coral
Coral
Corals are marine animals in class Anthozoa of phylum Cnidaria typically living in compact colonies of many identical individual "polyps". The group includes the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton.A coral "head" is a colony of...
reef encloses the large Rossel Lagoon in the west and a smaller lagoon
Lagoon
A lagoon is a body of shallow sea water or brackish water separated from the sea by some form of barrier. The EU's habitat directive defines lagoons as "expanses of shallow coastal salt water, of varying salinity or water volume, wholly or partially separated from the sea by sand banks or shingle,...
one in the east. Rossel Lagoon extends almost 40 km from the northwestern point of the island to Rossel Passage at the western end of the fringing reef. The barrier reef encircling this lagoon is narrow and has four passages through it west of the island. The barrier reef on the south side of the island is unbroken east of Rossel Passage. General depths in the lagoon range from 37 to 64 metres, but numerous scattered shoals lie in it. Few of these shoals dry and the larger ones are usually awash. Since the water is so clear the shoals can usually be distinguished in good light.