NASA’s Landsat-9 satellite has spotted a new island rising out of the water off the coast of Iwo Jima. It was born due to an underwater volcanic eruption that took place in late October.
A new island was born in the Pacific Ocean
The Landsat-9 satellite, launched by NASA on November 3, saw the island rising from the sea off the coast of Iwo Jima, which is located much further north than the main part of the Japanese archipelago. The distance from it to Tokyo is 1200 km.
Interestingly, no traces of the eruption were found in the photos taken by the same satellite on October 18. According to the Japanese Meteorological Agency, the underwater eruption itself began on October 21.
Its location was almost the same as during the previous eruption, which occurred in 2022. However, this time it reached the ocean surface. On October 30, between 3:20 and 3:35 Kyiv time, a nearby ship witnessed pieces of rock flying into the sky above the water, which later began to form land.
What the American satellite saw
Landsat-9 saw the island from an altitude of 705 kilometers above the Earth on November 3. The images clearly show that even compared to the ship’s observation three days earlier, the island has grown significantly.
The underwater volcano is known to have risen above the ocean surface in two places and started scattering debris around. Initially, the new island was about 50 meters long, but later it grew to 100 meters. It is located one kilometer off the coast of Iwo Jima and consists of volcanic pumice.
Pumice is an extremely light and volcanic rock that is formed when lava with a high content of gases and water comes out of the volcano’s vent. Evaporating, they form a large number of pores. In water, this process goes extremely fast.
Based on materials: phys.org
