If you feel like you're getting attached to that new island, don't worry. This isn't the first time that something like this has happened in the area, and according to the experts, it's a bit of a flight risk.
The new island was the result of an underwater volcanic eruption. The Home Reef seamount is an active volcano located on a stretch of mountains that line the ocean floor between New Zealand and Tonga. It's now 8.6 acres, or about the size of a football field.
The baby isle is unlikely to be a permanent addition to our maps. Mortality.
According to The Washington Post, the first Home Reef eruption took place in 1852 and resulted in a temporary island mass. There was an eruption five years later. In 1984 and 2006 a volcano erupts and an island forms.
The NASA press release states that islands created by submarine volcanoes are often short-lived.
There isn't a lot of structural integrity to these fleeting curiosities. Humans can't even walk on them because they're mostly ash and minerals. Most of the time, they only last a few years or even just a few months.
"It's like a large layer of ash, steam and pumice over the ocean," Rennie Vaiomounga, a geological services employee, told The Washington Post. "We don't know when the islands will appear or when they will disappear," he said.
These fleeting additions to the Earth are not traditional landmasses. Our newest baby volcano isle might remind us that our Earth is more than just a rock. It's still growing, changing, and transforming in a way that's pretty darn cool.
A volcano in the Pacific created a new island. It's a limited edition. The Washington Post is owned by The Washington Post.
There is a new island in the ocean.
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