Fast facts
Where is? Kumani Bank, Caspian Sea [39.5666672, 49.5898615]
What is in the photos? The appearance and rapid disappearance of a volcanic “ghost island”
What satellites took the photos? Landsat 8 and Landsat 9
When were the photos taken? November 18, 2022; February 14, 2023; and December 25, 2024
A surprising series of satellite photos shows the brief useful life of a “ghost island” that It emerged and disappeared quickly in the Caspian Sea After an underwater mud volcano blew its upper part.
The fleeting dough of land arose at the end of January 2023 on Kumani Bank, an underwater volcano about 15 miles (24 kilometers) from the east coast of Azerbaijan. By the time it was completely formed, on February 4, the island measured around 1,300 feet (400 meters) wide, according to NASA Earth Observatory.
However, the island was unstable, and by the time the last photo was taken in December 2024, “he had almost eroded, withdrawing from view as an appearance,” wrote representatives of the Earth Observatory. For now, the island has probably disappeared.
Kumani Bank has exploded eight times since it was first discovered in 1861. Each outbreak lasted only a few days, however, all these events resulted at at least some form of a temporary island. The strongest recorded eruption, which occurred in 1950, resulted in a terrestrial mass of 2,300 feet wide (700 m) that was at 20 feet (6 m) above sea level.
Related: See all the best images on Earth from space
Kumani Bank is a mud volcano, which means Throw a sludge and overheated water grout instead of lava and ash.
Azerbaijan has one of the highest concentrations of mud volcanoes anywhere on the earth, with more than 300 muddy vents in the continent or on the coast. This is due to the country’s position above a “convergence zone” where Arabic and the Euroasymatic tectonic plates They collide, which leads to greater geothermal activity.
Mud volcanoes are not as violent or destructive as other volcanoes. However, they contain high levels of pressurized natural gas. This gas can be turned on by collised rock sparks, which leads to ardent sporadic.
It is believed that an underwater mud volcano near Kumani Bank has caused a Imposing inferno, several hundred feet tallwhich exploded over the Caspian Sea in 2021.
Other volcanic “ghosts”
Normal volcanoes that are not mugo can also create temporary islands when they explode under the waves.
In 2015, an island of 0.7 square miles (1.9 square kilometers) emerged in the South Pacific Ocean on the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano in Tonga. However, it was eliminated by the same volcano in January 2022, when the submarine mountain unleashed one of the The most powerful volcanic eruptions ever registered.
The researchers then revealed that the colossal explosion Probably kill microbes species never seen before That evolved in the isolated terrestrial mass.
In October 2023, a Violent eruption on the coast of Iwo Jima Island of Japan He also created a temporary terrestrial mass, he calls Niijima, or “new island.” He grew to have about 330 feet (100 m) wide and 66 feet (20 m) high, and It was clearly visible from space.
But in March 2024, drones images revealed that the island had begun to sink quickly into the sea, despite the continuous signs of volcanic activity, according to Newsweek.
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