A new island has appeared out of the ocean and is expanding, experts in the South Pacific along with NASA have revealed. An underwater volcano near Tonga that “awoke” on Sept. 10, known as Home Reef, is responsible for the new island after ejecting lava, plumes of steam and ash, and discoloring the surrounding water. The land mass began to appear 11 hours after the initial underwater volcanic explosion and has expanded to just over eight acres in two weeks. Tonga Geological Services on Saturday confirmed the island had risen to around 50 feet above sea level and that while the volcano is continuing to spew steam and ash, it poses a low risk to surrounding communities. According to NASA’s Earth Observatory, the new island is southwest of Late Island, northeast of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha‘apai, and northwest of Mo‘unga‘one. Home Reef sits within what is known as the Tonga-Kermadec subduction zone, an area where three tectonic plates are colliding at the fastest converging boundary in the world, NASA said, claiming the location has Earth’s highest density of underwater volcanoes. These new islands can remain in existence for years, NASA said, but are often short-lived.
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