An underwater volcanic eruption has pushed an island up from beneath the waves to about 10 metres above sea level in Tonga.
Scientists say the island has grown from one acre to about six acres in just five days following the eruption of the Home Reef Volcano.
Authorities have issued a hazard alert and put in a place a restriction zone around the volcano.
Volcano expert Professor Scott Bryan, from the Queensland University of Technology, said Home Reef’s earlier eruptions only lasted a few months.
But this time, things might be different.
“This effuse eruption has produced lava, which is a hardened and more resistant rock, so this island may last a little bit longer than the previous islands,” he said.
“Over the next thousands I would expect that if Home Reef continues to erupt with this frequency that it will be able to make itself a permanent island.”
Source: ABC Pacific