Remember that Disney short film, ‘Lava’, about a volcano who lived alone in the South Pacific? But as the tide started to rise, he slowly sank underwater and another volcano emerged out of the ocean to sit above sea level?
Like a pop-up island in the South Pacific. How cool! Click here to watch the Lava clip, it’s cute.
Disney must have some sort of fortune-telling abilities because that literally just happened in the South Pacific. Well, kind of. Okay, not really, I just wanted you to watch that clip.
Back in 2014, an island formed in Tonga out of volcanic ash.
Initially, the small piece of land was only expected to last for a few months, but now scientists believe she may sit high and mighty for decades.
NASA have studied the unofficially named land mass called Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai, and say she’s the first island of her kind to survive this long since modern satellite was invented and say she could be around for between six to 30 years, The Guardian reported.
Image: NASA/Damien Grouille/Cecile Sabau
Although exciting for the general public to hear about another island emerging in the South Pacific, for NASA, it’s an opportunity to see how 3D landscape changes, erosion rates and figure out why it has lasted longer than other volcanic ash islands.
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