Since the end of World War II, Clipperton has primarily been the site for scientific expeditions to study the island's wildlife and marine life, including its significant masked and brown booby colonies.

[39] In 2005, a four-month scientific mission organised by Jean-Louis Étienne made a complete inventory of Clipperton's mineral, plant, and animal species; studied algae as deep as 100 m (328 ft) below sea level; and examined the effects of pollution.

[45][46] The lagoon is devoid of fish, and is shallow over large parts except for some deep basins with depths of 43–72 m (141–236 ft),[47] including a spot known as Trou Sans Fond ('the bottomless hole') with acidic water at its base.

During Marie-Hélène Sachet's visit in 1958, the vegetation was found to consist of a sparse cover of spiny grass and low thickets, a creeping plant (Ipomoea spp.

[77] As a result, Clipperton is mostly a sandy desert with only 674 palms counted by Christian Jost during the Passion 2001 French mission and five islets in the lagoon with grass that the terrestrial crabs cannot reach.

This report urgently recommended eradication of rats, which have been destroying bird nesting sites and the crab population,[82][83] so that vegetation might be reduced, and the island might return to its 'pre-human' state.

[108] During the night of 10 February 2010, the Sichem Osprey,[109] a Maltese chemical tanker, ran aground en route from the Panama Canal to South Korea.

[62] In April 2023, the Passion 23 mission by France's Armed Forces in the Antilles [fr] and the surveillance frigate Germinal collected more than 200 kilograms (440 lb) of plastic waste from the island's beaches along with a bale of cocaine.

The earliest recorded possible sighting is 24 January 1521 when Portuguese-born Spanish explorer Ferdinand Magellan discovered an island he named San Pablo after turning westward away from the American mainland during his circumnavigation of the globe.

[139] On 15 November 1528, Spaniard Álvaro de Saavedra Cerón discovered an island he called Isla Médanos in the region while on an expedition commissioned by his cousin, the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés, to find a route to the Philippines.

[144] In August 1825, American sea captain Benjamin Morrell made the first recorded landing on Clipperton, exploring the island and making a detailed report of its vegetation.

[148] — Mexican Constitution of 1917[150] In April 1858, French minister Eugène Rouher reached an agreement with a Mr. Lockhard of Le Havre to claim oceanic islands in the Pacific for the exploitation of guano deposits.

[151] Sailing aboard Lockhart's ship Amiral, Ship-of-the-line Lieutenant Victor Le Coat de Kervéguen published a notice of this annexation in Hawaiian newspapers to further cement France's claim to the island.

[124][161] A few weeks later, on 13 December 1897, Mexico sent the gunboat La Demócrata and a group of marines to assert its claim on the island, evicting the Americans, raising the Mexican flag,[162] and drawing a protest from France.

[168][175] Throughout Mexico's occupation of Clipperton, France insisted on its ownership of the island, and lengthy diplomatic correspondence between the two countries led to a treaty on 2 March 1909, agreeing to seek binding international arbitration by Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, with each nation promising to abide by his determination.

[161][177][178][179] Mexican President Pascual Ortiz Rubio, in response to public opinion that considered the Italian king biased towards France, consulted international experts on the validity of the decision, but ultimately Mexico accepted Victor Emmanuel's findings.

[183] President Franklin D. Roosevelt made a stop over at Clipperton in July 1938 aboard the USS Houston as part of a fishing expedition to the Galápagos Islands and other points along the Central and South American coasts.

[187][188][189] Roosevelt had previously tried to visit Clipperton in July 1934 after transiting through the Panama Canal en route to Hawaii on the Houston; he had heard the area was good for fishing, but heavy seas prevented them from lowering a boat when they reached the island.

The American government seemed interested in Clipperton being handed over to Mexico due to the importance the island might play in both commercial and military air travel,[206] as well as its proximity to the Panama Canal.

[221] During these discussions between the admirals, French diplomats in Mexico attempted to hire the Mexican vessel Pez de Plata out of Acapulco to bring a military attaché to Clipperton under a cover story that they were going on a shark fishing trip.

[223] During this period, French officials in Mexico leaked information about their concerns, as well as about the arrival of seaplanes at Clipperton, to The New York Times and Newsweek; both stories were refused publishing clearance on national security grounds.

[224] In February 1945, the U.S. Navy transported French Officer Lieutenant Louis Jampierre on a 4-day trip to Clipperton out of San Diego[225] where he visited the installation and that afternoon returned to the United States.

There have been infrequent scientific and amateur radio expeditions and, in 1978, Jacques-Yves Cousteau visited with a team of divers and a survivor from the 1917 evacuation to film a television special called Clipperton: The Island that Time Forgot.

The Bougainville missions unloaded some 25 tons of equipment, including sanitary facilities, traditional Polynesian dwellings, drinking water treatment tanks, and generators.

The missions sought to surveil the island and its surrounding waters, observe weather conditions, and evaluate potential rehabilitation of the World War II era airstrip.

[235] An automatic weather installation was completed on 7 April 1980, with data collected by the station transmitted via the Argos satellite system to the Lannion Space Meteorology Center in Brittany France.

[239] After spending a month on Clipperton setting up and calibrating radar equipment to monitor Ariane flight V88, the mission ended in disappointment when the rocket disintegrated 37 seconds after launch due to a software bug.

[244] In May 1897, the British cargo vessel Kinkora wrecked on Clipperton;[245][246] the crew was able to salvage food and water from the ship, allowing them to survive on the island in relative comfort.

Unable to use any of the dilapidated buildings, they constructed a crude shelter from cement bags and tin salvaged from Quonset huts built by the American military 20 years earlier.

Wood from the huts was used for firewood, and fish caught off the fringing reef combined with potatoes and onions they had saved from their sinking vessel augmented the island's meager supply of coconuts.