Nasa satellite pics capture ‘Ghost Island’ mysteriously appear & then vanish just as suddenly in middle of Caspian Sea
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NASA scientists have been left baffled by satellite pictures showing a “ghost” island appearing - and then mysteriously vanishing. The "weird" sandy protrusion emerged in the Caspian Sea after a mud volcano erupted in early 2023. By then end of last year it had almost completely disappeared - dissolving away “like an apparition”, the NASA Earth Observatory said.
![[Satellite images showing the formation and erosion of a Caspian Sea island.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/2023-end-following-year-nearly-963467265.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
The Operational Land Imager and OLI-2 sensing equipment mounted on the satellites Landsat 8 and 9 captured the images showing the island growing and shrinking 15 miles off the eastern coast of Azerbaijan, near the capital Baku. The transient island formed around the site of the Kumani Bank mud volcano, also known as Chigil-Deniz, shortly after it erupted.
![[Satellite image of a new island and sediment plume in the Caspian Sea.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/3ad441e9-7d31-47ea-a882-d669865f38ee.jpg?strip=all&w=908)
Scientists think the eruption spewed out enough solid material to form a temporary build up that stuck out above the water’s surface. Similar ghostly islands have been spotted around the volcano since its first recorded eruption in 1861. NASA said: "A May 1861 event resulted in an island just 87 meters across and 3.5 meters above the water.".
![[Illustration of Landsat 8 satellite orbiting Earth, showing a Caspian Sea island formed by a mud volcano eruption.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/2023-end-following-year-nearly-963467273.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
"This one eroded away by early 1862.". This particular island’s lifecycle began in November 2022, when the crest of the volcano was still submerged. After a flurry of volcanic activity, an island had risen above the water with a sediment plume trailing from it through the sea.
![[Mud volcano erupting in Qobustan, Azerbaijan.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/f20wcc-azerbaijan-qobustan-mud-volcano-963523669.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
