The Earth Story

Aerial capture of the growing cone on Nishinoshima island and its current eruptive phase.

Ash Cloud This satellite image from the MODIS instrument on NASA’s Terra satellite captures an eruption of the volcano Nishinoshima, on a tiny, remote island almost 1000 kilometers away from Japan. The volcano first awakened in 2013 and eventually grew large enough to consume a nearby island from a previous volcanic event. Although it was quiet for a few years after this burst of activity, it has been active again since last December and particularly vigorous in its eruptions over the last month or so.

Nishinoshima volcano emerged out of the ocean about 1000 kilometers south of Tokyo to create an island in an eruption that started in 2013. It continued erupting after it appeared, actually consuming another nearby island formed out of a related volcano and being given the name of that island in the process. Here is continuing activity on that remote island captured by the Japanese Meteorological Agency. 

A couple years ago - a brand new island popped out of the ocean off the coast of Japan. That new island - called Nishinoshima, engulfed a smaller nearby island and is now 12x the size it used to be. The eruptions have stopped and the island now is at least temporarily stable, so life has begun occupying it. This short video documents a group of Japanese Scientists as they visit this nearly unexplored landscape.

It’s still growing

Literally 2 years ago we brought you a picture of Niijima, an erupting volcano in the Izu-Bonin islands to the south of Japan that at the time poked its head above the waters of the Pacific Ocean to become the youngest island on Earth. Since then, several other islands have peaked above the waters to seize that title, but this volcano hasn’t cared.

Niijima was a small cone erupting off the side of a larger island known as Nishinoshima. Within a few months, that volcano consumed the larger island around it and at this point, the erupting cone has piled up so much erupted lava that there is nothing left visible of the original island. It’s totally buried.

The volcano that was once Niijima has continued erupting for two years and it has grown outward substantially. The waves of the Pacific Ocean are relentless and continue attacking the edges, but the larger the lava flows grow, the stronger the island will be. At this point, the lava flows have reached a point where this island will last decades to centuries even if no further eruptions happen.

You can even see places where sediment is now gathering in gaps between lava flows, forming beaches in-between the lava flows, and a substantial cone developed around the main eruption vent.

-JBB

Image credit: Japan Coast Guard http://bit.ly/1T7dYu6

Previous posts: http://tmblr.co/Zyv2Js11mKto1 http://tmblr.co/Zyv2Js1CQKB-b http://tmblr.co/Zyv2Js1PnLhzW http://tmblr.co/Zyv2Js1WRNBot http://tmblr.co/Zyv2Js1oTN9Ci

Nishinoshima is still growing

In November of 2013, an underwater volcanic eruption gave birth to a tiny island off the eastern coast of Japan. The island rapidly grew in size and eventually fused with the nearby island of Nishinoshima, just a month after the volcano’s eruption. Today, the island stands at almost 2.5 square kilometers, with volcanic activity showing no signs of slowing down. This false-color image, which was captured by the Operational Land Imager on Landsat 8, shows plumes of steam and sulfur dioxide wafting from the mouth of the volcano. The white and blue represent the plumes and ocean respectively, while the drops of red on Nishinoshima are hot spots of lava. Besides than the volcano’s mouth, the satellite has only been able to detect hot spots at the southeastern region of the island. Fresh molten rock has been flowing through hollow tubes of solidified lava, which have been keeping the flowing lava hidden until appearing at the island’s edge.

Meanwhile, geologists aren’t the only scientists keeping a close eye on Nishinoshima; biologists and ecologists are also excited to observe how life will eventually colonize Nishinoshima. Old Nishinoshima, before it was unwittingly fused to the new island, was home to various bird species before they were driven away by the ongoing eruption. Researchers believe the potential of a new ecosystem lies with local seabirds that could turn Nishinoshima into their nesting ground. In a potentially great illustration of the cycle of life, the birds’ waste products — poop, vomit, and their eventual decomposing corpses — will become fertile soil that will be ideal for vegetation, to be grown from the seeds potentially transported to the island by wind, water, or the droppings of overflying birds. Until the island stops spewing lava, however, geologists and biologists will need to be content making further off-site observations and hypotheses as to what might happen to Nishinoshima in the near future.

-DC

Photo credit: http://1.usa.gov/1QWxw7k

More reading: http://bit.ly/1LCm4tZ http://bit.ly/1CBOgVr http://bit.ly/1FHX6Bb http://wxch.nl/1GEx6aw

When Nishinoshima turned a year old last November: http://on.fb.me/1Km5Btv

The Youngest Island on Earth We spend a lot of time in geologic study emphasizing how old stuff is—the Earth, the continents, the rocks in our backyard, etc. But there are some geologic features that are actually quite young, like in-our-lifetime young. This prompted us to research some of the youngest features on our planet—volcanic islands. Although islands form in a variety of ways, volcanic islands are the only ones composed of brand new crustal material. And although there are many eruptions out at sea, not all of them form islands since erosion can quickly disperse unconsolidated ash. The definition of a “new” island can be somewhat murky, but here are some of the leading contenders (and honorable mentions) for the youngest island on Earth: -Anak Krakatoa, 1930 —The “child of Krakatoa” is definitely not the youngest, but it deserves an honorable mention since it’s had almost continuous activity since its first eruption and keeps growing (some sources suggest at an average rate of 5m per year!). As of 2012, this island was 324 m (1024 ft) above sea level. -Surtsey, 1963—Again, not the most recent but one of the most famous. This volcano off the southern coast of Iceland now sits at 155m (509ft) above sea level, although it has subsided since its prime. Surtsey was also designated as a nature reserve to study ecological succession and has been of great value to the scientific community. -Kavachi, 1939-2003—Try as it might, this volcano in the Solomon Islands can’t seem to make it work. It has breached the surface eight times since 1939 only to be eroded. In early 2014, NASA noticed some underwater activity, so maybe there’s hope for Kavachi yet. -Home Reef, 1852, 1984 and 2006—Similar to Kavachi, this volcano keeps popping up but only briefly. 2006 brought it above water once again, but it hasn’t been seen since 2008. Someday, Home Reef…someday. -Zubair Group, 2012—this group of volcanoes off the coast of Yemen welcomed a new member in 2012. Although this unnamed island is still just an infant, the prognosis looks good: almost three years later, it’s still holding strong. -Nishinoshima, 2013—This one may win the award for youngest, although technically only part of the island is new. In November 2013 a volcano spouted above the surface just south of the preexisting Japanese island Nishinoshima. This little island grew to 3 times larger than its initial size in just a month, and by 2014 it had merged with Nishinoshima. Our volcanic lineup shows that Earth is constantly changing—many times slowly, but sometimes quickly! Perhaps 2015 will brings us another new island. -CM Photo credit: NOAA