Watching a New Island Grow Over Seven Years

In November 2013, a volcano started erupting just off the coast of Nishino-shima, a tiny island south of Japan. Over the course of the next nearly seven years, these eruptions poured lava out, first forming a new island (Niijima) and then linking the two islands together into a new, larger Nishino-shima. Even today, the eruption continues, producing long ash plumes that stretch across the blue waters of the Pacific.