The Red Sea has a new island, courtesy of an underwater volcano. NASA announced (January 17, 2012) that an underwater eruption of a volcano in the Red Sea appears to have stopped, leaving behind a newborn island.
The new island in the Red Sea. Image acquired January 15, 2012.
The new island is part of the Zubair Islands in the Red Sea, a group of small islands formed from an underwater shield volcano. The new island is located about 60 kilometers (40 miles) off the coast of Yemen.
The island began forming in December 2011. It is essentially lava that has cooled after breaking through the surface of the Red Sea. New island as it was being formed by an undersea volcano.
NASA’s Advanced Land Imager (ALI) aboard the Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite acquired these natural-color images.
