From around Christmas Day 2016 to the end of January 2017 , Bogoslof Island – locate at the southern border of the Bering Sea – has expand from just 0.293 square kilometers ( 0.113 straightforward miles ) tojust over twice that . It ’s still a tiny island , but this is a rapid reclamation of the ocean by any measure .
Although activity has been record since December , it really picked up the pace on January 18 , with explosive eruptions producing 9.4 - kilometer - gamy ( 31,000 - understructure ) ash tree plumes that have begin blanketing other nearby islands . prominent volcanic lightning dance about in the grilling ashen column has also been recognize by pilots .
Every few daytime since , similar - sized plumes , with one reach an EL of 11 kilometer ( 36,000 feet ) – the cruising height for most passenger jets – have been spotted . Each time , scorch hot lava has effused so rapidly out of the outlet that new land is being created .
The larceny back of the ocean by volcanic activity is hardly a rare occurrence . Right now , Hawaiiis both collapsing into the Pacific and constructing stigma new lava deltas to take the air on . Across the elephantine aristocratical pond , just to the south of Tokyo , you ’ll findNishinoshima , a antecedently submerged vent that has spent the last four years rising into the sky .
Bogoslof island is chop-chop changing size and shape , based on satellite imagery . Chris Waythomas / AVO / USGS
As forBogoslof , the last time it decided to boom its territorial dominion above the waves was back in 1992 , when a fresh lava dome poked its head above the surface . The island first emerged from the deep in 1796 – since then , it ’s been supply land , although some weaker segments of it have erode into nothingness .
Humans may not have much use for such a remote , glacial island , but it ’s worth pointing out that over 90,000 sea bird – including tufted puffin andred - legged kittiwakes – nest here , along with a salutary identification number of sea Lion . In fact , its condition as a household for a superfluity of flora and creature was officially recognized in 1909 by President Theodore Roosevelt , who designated the island a wildlife sanctuary .
Ultimately , then , this eruption is safe news . It may be freaking out the guillemots a tad , but when it eventually tranquillise down , they ’ll have more nesting terra firma than ever before .
Bogoslof Island , pictured here in 1994 . USGS
See ? volcano are n’t alwayskilling machines .
