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A volcanic island which was formed in 2013 has grown to 12 times its size, according to Japan Coast Guard officials.
New aerial film footage of the remote Nishinoshima, some 1,000 kilometers south of Tokyo, shows eruptions are still taking place from a crater in the island's center, and continuous lava flows.
The tiny islet emerged in November 2013 right next to the original Nishinoshima, when molten rock cooled and began to poke its head just above the water. That speck of land grew as the volcano kept going, and soon engulfed its once larger neighbor.
The new island now measures 1,900 meters east to west and 1,950 meters north to south and more than 100 meters tall, the Coast Guard says.
An official of the Tokyo Institute of Technology said volcanic activity is likely to continue for the time being.
© AFP/Japan Today
12 Comments
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smithinjapan
Cool. This will be a wicked place of scientific research when the time comes.
25years in Japan
Watch out that China does not claim it.
edojin
Enjoy watching it grow ... via TV, of course. Hope it continues to grow ...
Pukey2
That joke's old. Heard it plenty of times.
Moonraker
Must be time to surround it with tetrapods.
AsianGaijinYesWeExist
Asinine comment. Quit playing the victim card. This joke is old like Pukey2 said.
njca4
LOL @ the old China joke. It's one of those jokes that makes you cringe more than laugh.
But seriously, they must be jealous of how 'cheap' it is for us to build this new island ;)
Dan Lewis
Relax people. It's just a joke.
Sassenach
"But seriously, they must be jealous of how 'cheap' it is for us to build this new island ;)"
But this new island is not doing anything for Japan's greedy EEZ claims. That would be Okinotorishima. And considering what it has cost Japan to build up Okinotorishima, I am afraid the Chinese are not jealous at all. I would wager that the Chinese, like their island building or not, have gotten far more bang (excuse the pun) out of their buck .
ebisen
Excuse me, those with the China joke? China has a set of ancient scrolls documenting how they've colonised this island thousands of years ago. Therefore no need to claim it, it's a already China's island by definition, the rest of the world knows this...
Fadamor
Interesting that it's still going strong. At the time it first appeared, experts were predicting it would abate and sink back below the surface.