Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force
An incredible sight! A new island has emerged in a photo captured by Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force on November 1.
Tokyo
CNN —
The world’s newest island has risen from the sea off the coast of the Japanese island of Iwo Jima in the Pacific Ocean.
The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) informed CNN that the unnamed island was created by an undersea volcanic eruption.
Captured on November 1, the country’s Maritime Self-Defense Force documented the island’s emergence from the ocean.
The photos depict a small eruption sending a dark cloud of ash above the tiny island, now part of the Ogasawara Island chain.
While the JMA has been monitoring volcanic activity in the area since last year, the University of Tokyo’s Earthquake Research Institute confirmed that the island-forming eruption occurred on October 30.
Professor emeritus Setsuya Nakada of the University of Tokyo’s volcanology department told the Japan Times this week that magma had been building under the water for some time before finally surfacing.
The island is situated approximately 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) south of mainland Japan and just a kilometer from Iwo Jima, a site of intense World War II battles in the Pacific.
During World War II, US Marines fought against tens of thousands of Japanese troops stationed on Iwo Jima, resulting in the loss of over 7,000 American and 22,000 Japanese lives.
