New island created by volcanic eruption in Japan grows 3.7 times

December 7, 2013 – JAPAN – According to Japan’s Coast Guard, the island, close to the Ogasawara archipelago, emerged as a result of undersea volcanic eruptions far south of Tokyo on November 20th and has since grown 3.7 times. It is now 300 meters long and 260 meters wide, the RIA Novosti news agency reports.  According to expert estimates, the overall surface of the land mass makes up some 56,000 square meters. The island, originally a circle-turned an oval, now looks like a trapezoid, according to the NHK TV Channel. When the island emerged during volcanic eruptions of ash and magma from the Pacific Ocean bottom, it was 200 meters in diameter and 20 meters high. Just two days later, it was 400 meters in diameter and 30 meters high. The undersea volcano is expected to continue erupting for some more time. The islands that emerge this way will often get submerged again. If this is not the lot of the new island, Japan will enjoy an increase in its territorial waters. The neighboring Nishinoshima Island also emerged during a volcanic eruption in the mid-1970s. Nishinoshima Island is currently 800 meters long and 500 meters wide. Under international law, 12 nautical miles (or 22.2 kilometers) off the country’s coastline are seen as territorial waters, while the next 12 nautical miles, as the contiguous zone. 200 nautical miles (or 370 kilometers) off the shore is where the country’s exclusive economic zone ends and the continental shelf begins. The shelf is followed by the high seas. –Voice of Russia