New Island!!
Hi Bestie!!
I’m all over the place this weekend. But if I could be anywhere with you (that’s not Brooklyn) it would be JAPAN’S NEW ISLAND.
I think a lot about an afternoon in third grade when my teacher casually mentioned new animals that had been discovered in the last year (it’s about that time), and I thought, “Shouldn’t that be bigger news?” No one ever interrupted D.E.A.R. time to say, “We’ll probably have new islands in your lifetime.”
Fukutoku-Okanoba is an undersea volcano three miles from Iwo Jima (Minami). The volcano has erupted and created islands in the past, though typically they sink into the ocean and form reefs or disappear entirely. Submarine eruptions from this volcano have created islands since at least 1904.
Eruptions from that year and the next created a round 3.5 mile island which shrank and eventually sank. Ten years later a 7.3 mile island formed. It was 980 feet high; it too eventually sank and a full submersion was recorded in 1916.
The volcano has erupted consistently since 2007. The 2000s and 2010s were marked by smoke and discolored water. The volcano’s largest eruption since WWII (“the war”) was in 2021 and pumice filled the surface of the ocean. It sank, too. I hope the fish are having a good time in the new reef. While some of the islands in Japan’s “ring of fire” (111 of the volcanoes, all hanging out together, watching UFC on Saturday night are in Japan’s Volcano Islands archipelago).
Japan’s new island formed last month when a volcano erupted as recently as October 21 and possibly through October 30! (I was under the impression the volcano was Fukutoku-Okanoba but Western media keeps saying, “unnamed volcano,” and I can’t tell which of us is the bad journalist here.) The island was measured this month, and last week it was 328 feet in diameter and as high as 66 feet.
NASA found it from space. (A Japenese journalist took video from a helicopter as it erupted.) Unfortunately, its surface is “crumbly” and vulnerable to erosion (by way of waves), so it’s shrinking already. I don’t care what they say, I think it’s exciting.
Dribs and Drabs
Speaking of new animals, an echidna thought to be extinct was discovered on a trail cam this summer.
This is an intersection of two niche interests: scams and “what does that house look like on the inside.” (If you also like scams, I love Scam Goddess. Start with Shaun King and Hilaria Baldwin.)
A fun reminder that New York City is an archipelago. <3
Always your friend,
Katherine
Sources (APA 7)
Adhem, J. (2023, November 10). New island forms in Japan after undersea volcano erupts but experts warn it may not last long. Euronews. https://www.euronews.com/green/2023/11/10/new-island-forms-in-japan-after-undersea-volcano-erupts-but-experts-warn-it-may-not-last-l
Bowman, E. (2023, November 11). Researchers rediscover an echidna named after David Attenborough. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2023/11/11/1212440524/echidna-attenborough
Earwolf. (2023, February 2). Scam Goddess - Earwolf. https://www.earwolf.com/show_archive/scam-goddess/
Japan volcano: Plumes of smoke as new island emerges after eruption. (n.d.). [Video]. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia-67374295
Lea, R. (2023, November 10). A volcanic eruption gave birth to a new island, and a NASA satellite saw it from space (photo). Space.com. https://www.space.com/nasa-satellite-spots-new-island-from-space
Quinlan, A. (2023, November 10). Socialite scammer’s enormous townhouse gets $10M price cut. Curbed. https://www.curbed.com/2023/11/socialite-scammer-dina-reis-gilded-age-townhouse-price-cut.html
Wikipedia contributors. (2023, October 6). Fukutoku-Okanoba. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukutoku-Okanoba