The volcanic bam ofHunga Friendly Islands – Hunga Haʻapaiback in 2021 might ’ve been the largest inover a century , but that ’s far from the only igneous activity that Tonga has seen as of late . In 2022 , a new volcanic island issue from the sea nearby – and it ’s just grown again .

The island was formed by the eruption ofHome Reef – a submarine sandwich volcano found in the Central Tonga Islands between Lateiki and Late Island – inSeptember 2022 . Since then , multiple further eruptions have see the island grow , thelatesthaving occurred from December 2024 through to January 2025 .

Before this point , the island at Home Reef had reach 12.2 hectare ( 30.1 acres ) , which is roughly 2,000 multiplication smaller than Tonga ’s main island , Tongatapu ; and around 6,500 time lowly than New York City .

By February 2 , 2025 , however , satellite imagery revealed that the recent bust of volcanic activity had caused the island to grow by another 3.7 hectare ( 9.2 acres ) .

It ’s not the first metre an island has pop up here – this is the fifth one that we know of . The first record Home Reef island come after an eruption in 1852 , keep an eye on by another in 1857 . There were also irruption in 1984 and 2006 , the latter producing an island with cliff as high-pitched as 70 meters ( 230 meters ) .

However , all four prior island eventually disappeared . This case of impermanent land mass is referred to as an passing island .

The current iteration of the island at Home Reef has already beaten the lifespan of its 2006 predecessor , which had receded beneath the water ’s surface around nine months after its birth – but how much longer might it last ?

“ Some of the previous eruptions had a more volatile character , which led to land made of a more disunited , easily erodible material , ” Simon Plank , a researcher from the German Aerospace Center ( DLR ) , toldNASA Earth Observatory . “ This one is characterise by effusive period that spring a hard material that yield the island a high chance of surviving for several years . ”

While volcanic eruptions aredifficult to predict , and the most late activityreportsuggests there have been no raw lava flows at Home Reef up until February 7 , there ’s a possibleness that the island will continue to get during that time too .

Home Reef is part of a Ernst Boris Chain ofaround 80submarine volcano that form the Tonga - Kermadec Arc – also home to the Tauposupervolcano – which just so happen to be one of the creation ’s most active .

[ H / T : NASA Earth Observatory ]