Strange ghost island in sea appears for over 150 years: Details
An island in the Caspian Sea hides from scientists for over 150 years (photo: bluemarble.nasa.gov)
The ghost island that suddenly appears and disappears in the Caspian Sea has been playing hide-and-seek with scientists for over 150 years. Researchers have many photos of this island, but they still cannot solve the mystery of its appearance.
Science Alert shares what is this mysterious island, where it appears, and what scientists say about it.
The ghost island is located on top of the Kumani bank mud volcano, which lies underwater off the coast of Azerbaijan. When the volcano erupts, the mud island breaks through the waves and forms land approximately 20 kilometers from the mainland.
The island was first documented in May 1861, but by the following year, it had disappeared. According to records, in the 20th century, the island appeared and vanished at least six times. The landmass rarely remains for more than two years - within about a year, it disappears back underwater.
Scientists were confident that the island's appearance was directly related to the volcano and its eruptions. The huge jet streams of fire and mud were so powerful that they could be mistaken from a distance for explosions from oil platforms.
However, in 2023, this mirage island baffled scientists. It appeared above the waves without any volcanic eruption or noise.
"A new island suddenly appeared last year, which is amazing. But what is even more amazing is that nobody seemed to notice!" wrote geophysicist and mud volcano enthusiast Mark Tingay.
A satellite image of Kumani Island, which appears and slowly disappears between 2022 and 2024 (Photo: NASA Earth Observatory)
He was sure that there were no official records of the island - only satellite images. Tingey searched for mentions of this island or its name in various languages. But later, NASA chose a photograph of the ghost island as their Image of the Day - this happened on January 10, 2025.
The sudden appearance of the island is not an isolated case. Kumani Island has surprised scientists before. A similar event occurred in 1993 when the island was simply spotted on satellite images, but there had been no volcanic eruption beforehand.
Kumani in the Caspian Sea near the coast of Azerbaijan (Image: NASA Earth Observatory)
Earlier, we wrote about the 5 highest volcanoes in Europe.
We also shared information about the most astonishing islands around the world.
