2 new islands appear near Indonesia’s Anak Krakatoa volcano after eruption

Two new islands have appeared off Anak Krakatoa, potentially the first in nearly a century to emerge within the caldera left by Krakatoa’s catastrophic 1883 eruption.

The formations, discovered following a 25-hour eruption in early September, sit hundreds of metres off opposite sides of Anak Krakatoa – one to the northwest and the other to the southeast – almost on a straight line through the volcano’s crater, according to Indonesia’s Geological Agency.

The agency places one about 760 metres (0.5 miles) off Anak Krakatoa’s northwest coast and the other some 495 metres to the southeast. It has not verified their dimensions or elevation above sea level.

The agency’s preliminary interpretation is that relatively fluid magma released during the continuous eruption reached the surface via an elongated northwest-southeast opening, with erupted material forming two island-like mounds offshore.