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Shemya or Simiya () is a small island in the Semichi Islands group of the Near Islands chain in the Aleutian Islands archipelago southwest of Alaska, at . It has a land area of , and is about southwest of Anchorage, Alaska. It is wide and long.
In 1943, a United States Air Force radar surveillance, weather station, aircraft refueling station, and a runway opened on Shemya and are still in operation. At its peak in the 1960s, the station, originally Shemya Air Force Base or Shemya Station, had 1,500 workers. In 1956, Northwest Airlines leased Shemya Island from the U.S. government to use as a refueling station on their North Pacific route. According to Northwest's website, that made them "the first airline to operate its own airport." Northwest was operating Lockheed Constellation L-1049G model propliners on its "Orient Express" service between the U.S. and Asia in 1956.
During the height of the Cold War, the United States Air Force airborne intelligence platforms "Cobra Ball", "Rivet Amber," and "Rivet Ball" flew intercontinental ballistic missile tracking flights from this island near the Soviet Union, especially the Kamchatka Peninsula. Observations from Shemya were normally the first radar reports of new Soviet satellite launches from Tyuratam (Baikonur) in the early days of satellite tracking; see Project Space Track.
In 1993, the station was renamed the Eareckson Air Station to honor USAF Colonel William O. Eareckson, who had commanded bomber operations during the Aleutian Campaign of World War II.
The station still operates as a radar station and aircraft refueling station with a staff of about 180 people. The 2000 census reported an official resident population of 27 persons on the island.
One of the most recognizable features of the island is the COBRA DANE radar system. This radar was built in 1976 and brought on-line in 1977 for the primary mission of intelligence gathering in support of verification of the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) II agreement.
Shemya was an important outpost during the Cold War; as part of Project Bluegrass, the White Alice Communications System provided a vital tropospheric scatter communications link to the mainland during the early-1960s to late-1970s. Its two parabolic reflectors and 50 kW transmitter output bridged the nearly gap to Adak, Alaska.
The Japanese current in the Pacific to the south of the island regulates the temperature and gives it the pronounced temperature lag. August and September are the warmest months. The island's record low occurred in April. Despite it being a tundra climate, it is spared the vicious cold of places like Utqiagvik, Alaska, where temperatures in winter can rival those of interior Alaska in winter.
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