Nature & Environment
Fake Island Size of Manhattan Landed on Google Earth
Kathleen Lees
First Posted: Apr 18, 2013 02:02 PM EDT
Some people say not to trust everything you see or hear. Truth be told, they were right.
Last year, according to a group of Australian researchers, it just so happens that they "undiscovered" an island the size of Manhattan in the South Pacific.
The mysterious place known as Sandy Island even showed up on the maps, northwest of New Caledonia. To make it seem even more realistic, it also showed up as a black polygon on Google Earth. But when scientists sailed there last fall, they were stunned. No island. Just open water.
In an obituary for the island published this month, researchers explain that this phantom island that has been on some maps for more than a century points to common human error that can now be corrected.
Sandy Island was first recorded by the whaling ship Velocity in 1876 and first mentioned on a British Admiralty chart in 1908. But future expeditions failed to find the island, and it was removed from some official hydrographic charts by the 1970s.
However, researchers believe that the island may have somehow gotten into digital databases that were then widely used through the World Vector Shoreline Database, which was developed by the U.S. military.
"During the conversion from hard-copy charts to digital formats the 'Sandy Island' error was entrenched," said Maria Seton of the University of Sydney and the chief scientist of the expedition.
"We all had a good giggle at Google as we sailed through the island," Steven Micklethwaite, a scientist at the University of Western Australia who was on the voyage, according to the Sydney Morning Herald at the time of the undiscovery. "Then we started compiling information about the seafloor, which we will send to the relevant authorities so that we can change the world map."
However, many researchers are curious about what may have been seen that caused crew to falsely identify this island during the 19th century. Many speculate that agiant pumice raft, which forms when volcanic lava cools quickly and traps gas inside, thus creating lightweight rocks that can float, could have led some to believe an island was in the area.
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First Posted: Apr 18, 2013 02:02 PM EDT
Some people say not to trust everything you see or hear. Truth be told, they were right.
Last year, according to a group of Australian researchers, it just so happens that they "undiscovered" an island the size of Manhattan in the South Pacific.
The mysterious place known as Sandy Island even showed up on the maps, northwest of New Caledonia. To make it seem even more realistic, it also showed up as a black polygon on Google Earth. But when scientists sailed there last fall, they were stunned. No island. Just open water.
In an obituary for the island published this month, researchers explain that this phantom island that has been on some maps for more than a century points to common human error that can now be corrected.
Sandy Island was first recorded by the whaling ship Velocity in 1876 and first mentioned on a British Admiralty chart in 1908. But future expeditions failed to find the island, and it was removed from some official hydrographic charts by the 1970s.
However, researchers believe that the island may have somehow gotten into digital databases that were then widely used through the World Vector Shoreline Database, which was developed by the U.S. military.
"During the conversion from hard-copy charts to digital formats the 'Sandy Island' error was entrenched," said Maria Seton of the University of Sydney and the chief scientist of the expedition.
"We all had a good giggle at Google as we sailed through the island," Steven Micklethwaite, a scientist at the University of Western Australia who was on the voyage, according to the Sydney Morning Herald at the time of the undiscovery. "Then we started compiling information about the seafloor, which we will send to the relevant authorities so that we can change the world map."
However, many researchers are curious about what may have been seen that caused crew to falsely identify this island during the 19th century. Many speculate that agiant pumice raft, which forms when volcanic lava cools quickly and traps gas inside, thus creating lightweight rocks that can float, could have led some to believe an island was in the area.
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone