Baby island, do-do-do-do-do-do

Somebody scramble the Google Maps car ASAP, cuz a new island just formed in the South Pacific.

According to NASA's Earth Observatory, a volcano on what's known as the Home Reef seamount began to erupt on September 10. Eleven hours later, an island emerged from the water.

🏝 A deeper dive… Just to be clear, we’re not talking about a continent-sized landmass – as of September 19, the island was only ~9 acres. And it could disappear at any moment… or not. Islands created by underwater volcanic activity can exist for years, though they typically don't last long, per NASA.

• Case in point: The Home Reef region’s submarine volcanoes flared up in 1852, 1857, 1984, and 2006, producing new islands each time – that were all eventually swallowed back up by the ocean.
• But, but, but: An island created by the nearby Late'iki Volcano in 1995 lasted for 25 years, NPR reports. So this recently-created, unnamed island has that going for it… which is nice.

🌋 Fun fact(s): More than 80% of the Earth's surface – above and below sea-level – is volcanic in origin. Gaseous emissions from volcanoes also forged our planet's atmosphere.

Nowadays, there are ~500 known active volcanoes in the world, per the US Geological Survey. And more than half are part of the “Ring of Fire," a region that encircles the Pacific Ocean.

+Dive deeper: How can we tell when a volcano will erupt?