New Islands Formed in the Past 20 Years

Home Reef

Some islands are built to last, while others disappear. Then there's a third kind that seems to come and go. Home Reef, created by a submarine volcano in Tonga, is one such ephemeral island. Over the last 150 years, Home Reef has surfaced and disintegrated a few times after volcanic eruptions. The last eruption in 2006 not only created a temporary island but also sent vast rafts of floating pumice drifting to the Fiji Islands and eventually to Australia. By 2008, Home Reef was gone again. A new volcanic eruption in 2015 didn't bring back Home Reef, but there's always next time.