They called it "Sandy Island" and, as it was said in numerous navigation charts, it was a large island, quietly suspended in the South Pacific.In fact, the first references that we have of the island appear already in 1876 thanks to the crew of the ship »Velocity» of the British Navy, who described their lands as an idyllic setting bordered by the Coral Sea.
Everything was going well, all Navigation charts included it as one more element in our maps and, as it could not be less, until recently Sandy Island also appeared in Google Earth and Google Maps .It was not difficult to find it, one did not have rather than placing the cursor in an intermediate dot between Australia and New Caledonia and there was such a perfect scenario.
However, something happened a few years ago.you in situation: imagine that you are a biologist and want to visit a specific island to study its flora, fauna, to catalog its species...You start the trip after finding funding and when you get to that point indicated by the maps, you discover that...The island does not exist!
This is, indeed, what happened with Sandy Island.
Sandy Island, the lost island on the maps
It was in 2012.The Dr.Maria Seton of the University of Sydney, and her team, wanted to study the phenomena associated with plate tectonics near New Caledonia, from there that they visited the Coral Sea with the idea of also studying Sandy Island in order to obtain data about its geology and its characteristics.But their surprise was capital when when they reached the point where according to the old maps and Google's own location, they discovered that there was only an immeasurable emptiness.Nothing shimmering and silent, there, where Of course, Sandy Island should rise, (and as it was said, it was as large as Manhattan).
What had happened? Had it been swallowed by the ocean? Or had someone invented its existence and that was nothing more than a joke maintained over the centuries? Something impossible, since the island continued to appear not only on Google Maps, but also on Yahoo and Bing Maps .Then? The news came immediately to the newspaper 'Sydney Morning Herald' where Steven Micklethwaite, a member of the expedition, recounted what happened.A few days later, the news had gone around the world.To a world, where someone had «Stolen an island».
What is the most accepted explanation about the disappearance of Sandy Island?
Well, the explanation given by the experts is so striking as disconcerting.According to Maria Seton, the island was never really an island, although it must exist without a doubt, even if it was never really "mainland" as we understand it.Most likely it was a huge raft of pumice or pumice stone originated by the volcanic lava emerged from the bottom.It is very possible that it would rise, cool down in the middle of the gas and form that "simile" of floating island that could be seen with the naked eye.
The French Hydrographic Service , meanwhile, speaks of Sandy Island as a true ghost island, since they themselves saw it in numerous Sometimes, however, from 1979 they stopped seeing it for a while to the point of removing it from their maps.
Is Sandy Island a great raft of pumice stone that moves freely across the ocean? , appearing and disappearing? We do not know.Although that is not missing who dares to comment that Sandy Island would actually be trapped in a kind of "temporary loop".
Anyway, the Google spokesman hastened to declare what following to avoid any responsibility:
«We work with a wide variety of authorized sources of public and commercial data to offer our users the most advanced and updated maps.One of the most interesting things about maps and geography is that the world is a place in constantly changing, and keeping up to date on these changes is a never-ending task ”
What is your opinion? If you liked this article, do not hesitate to know Socrotta, the enchanted island either.
Image: Nattu, Michael Dawes, drpavloff, Alexandre Duret-Lutz
Comments
Post a Comment