Monday September 26, 2022
NPR —
There’s a new island in the South Pacific.
Earlier this month, an underwater volcano near Tonga erupted, oozing lava and expelling steam and water above the surface. It also formed a new land mass that’s quickly grown from one to more than eight acres in size.
According to NASA’s Earth Observatory, a volcano on what’s known as the Home Reef seamount began to erupt on Sept. 10.
Eleven hours later, the unnamed island poked out of the water.
On Saturday the Tonga Geological Services estimated that the island had expanded to roughly 8.6 acres and stood at around 50 feet above sea level as of Sept. 19.