The small island was born 11 hours after a volcanic eruption and grew to 24,000 square meters in size.
A new island has emerged in the southwest Pacific Ocean after an undersea Home Reef volcano erupted lava and spewed ash and steam.
The island was born 11 hours after the September 10 eruption, which discolored the surrounding water, US space agency NASA said in a statement.
NASA was able to photograph the new land mass with satellites. The volcano is located on the Home Reef seamount near the central island of Tonga.
“Landsat 9’s Operational Land Imager-2 (OLI-2) captured this natural-color view of the young island on September 14, 2022, as plumes of discolored water circulated nearby,” the statement said .
“Previous research suggests that these plumes of acidic, superheated seawater contain particles, volcanic rock fragments and sulfur.”
On 14 September, Tonga Geological Services estimated the size of the island at 4,000 square meters (43,055 sq ft), with an elevation of 10.1 meters (33 ft) above sea level. However, on September 20 the agency said the island had grown substantially to 24,000 square meters (258,333 square feet).
The new island in the southwest of the Pacific Ocean [NASA Earth Observatory]
NASA said that while islands created from underwater volcanoes don’t last long, some can continue to exist for years.
“The volcano poses a low risk to the aviation community and residents of Vava’u and Ha’apai… However, all mariners are advised to navigate beyond 4 kilometers (2.49 miles) away from Home Reef until further notice,” TGS noted.
Seismic activity is common around Tonga, an archipelago nation with 171 islands and a population of 100,000.
The Home Reef volcanoes previously erupted in 1852, 1857, 1984 and 2006, with the last two eruptions producing islands 50 to 70 meters (164-229 feet) high, NASA said.
The Home Reef, a ridge on the seafloor from Tonga to New Zealand, has the highest concentration of underwater volcanoes in the world, according to the space agency.