Japan gets a new island, thanks to an underwater volcanic eruption

The country of Japan is an archipelago consisting of more than 6,000 islands. But now, the map of Japan will have to add another new feature as a tiny new island has popped up out of nowhere.

The new island is 12,000 kms south of capital city Tokyo. The nearest island to the new landmass is the Minami Ioto around 50 kms away.

As per Japan’s coast guard, the new island is 1 km in diameter and is shaped like a crescent.

The meteorological agency of Japan said that the volcano erupted last week and the eruption is ongoing. Smoke warning has been issued in the islands nearby as well as the possibility of large deposits of ash in water bodies near the volcano, Japan’s Mainichi Shimbun newspaper reported.

The discovery was made by the Japanese coast guard on Sunday, August 15. The coast guard was conducting aerial observations of the eruption when the crew found what looked like a large floating volcanic rock deposit on the sea.

8月16日(月)、#海上保安庁 は、#福徳岡ノ場 の火山活動の観測を実施しました。新島は、形状が一部変化し、浮遊物は約100㎞先まで達していました。
詳細は #海洋情報部 ホームページをご覧ください。

広報資料https://t.co/pEFTN78Yuw

動画(海域火山データベース)https://t.co/OKOoDc1Xf8 pic.twitter.com/czQasamg3U

— 海上保安庁 (@JCG_koho) August 17, 2021

However, it is too early to confirm if the island will become permanent or ends up disappearing in a few years. The phenomenon is not new to Japan. Such islands appeared in the region on at least three occasions before in 1904, 1914 and 1986 only to eventually erode from the persistent striking of sea waves.

In 2013, a similar island ended up merging with an existing Japanese island called Nishinoshima.

The new island could end up being a permanent feature if continues eruption gives it more matter and it forms a hard shell that is durable.

If the island stays, the size of territory that Japan occupies may grow just by a few hundred metres.