Caspian: Mysterious “ghost island” detected by NASA satellite

If anyone ever talked about a “ghost” island, it would certainly sound like the scriptwriter of the latest episode of Scooby Doo, but in the Caspian Sea, that’s exactly what happened. NASA satellites spotted a mysterious island – before watching it disappear, literally from the face of the earth.

The piece of land emerged off the coast of Azerbaijan after a mud volcano erupted in early 2023.

But by the end of 2024, it had almost disappeared as if it never existed, the Daily Mail reports.

According to NASA’s Earth Observatory, the island disappeared from public view “like a ghost”.

“Powerful eruptions of the Kumani Bank mud volcano have created similar ephemeral islands several times since its first recorded eruption in 1861,” NASA explained.

The land mass, which formed off the coast of Azerbaijan, was recorded by NASA’s Landsat 8 and 9 satellites at different times: on November 18, 2022, on February 14, 2023, and on December 25, 2024.

In the original recording of November 2022, the summit of the volcano remained below sea level.

By February 2023, the island had emerged, with a trail of sediments drifting in with the currents. Satellite images showed the island grew about 400 meters in diameter between January 30 and February 4, 2023, according to geologist Mark Tingey of the University of Adelaide.

History

The volcano’s previous eight recorded eruptions occurred in eruptions that lasted less than two days and created islands of varying sizes that remained

An event in May 1861 resulted in an island just 87 meters and 3.5 meters wide,” NASA said. This eroded in early 1862.

The strongest eruption, in 1950, created an island 700 meters wide and 6 meters high.

Mud volcanoes, described by University of Adelaide geologist Mark Tingey as “weird and wonderful phenomena”, are poorly studied despite their impressive nature. Azerbaijan stands out for its large concentration of such volcanoes, with more than 300 recorded in the eastern part of the country and the Caspian Sea.

This area is located in a convergence zone of the Arabian and Eurasian tectonic plates, which favors the creation of mud volcanoes.

Riskiness

However, aside from the scientific interest, mud volcanoes can be dangerous, as they can eject huge amounts of material, and even flames, in a short period of time. According to NASA, previous eruptions have created “pillars of fire” that reach hundreds of meters into the air.

It’s unclear whether the 2023 eruption involved flames, but the phenomenon adds to the region’s reputation as a geological wonder.