See how a brand new island emerges off the coast of Japan
In the past Nishinoshima was a little uninhabited island, located 620 miles south of Tokyo, that formed in the 1970s when an underwater volcano suddenly erupted.
Over the past three years Nishinoshima has considerably grown in size. In November 2013, after more than 30 years, a major eruption occurred and almost ceaselessly continued until late 2015.
It is no wonder that now scientists consider Nishinoshima a natural laboratory as it gives them a unique opportunity to observe a formation of a new ecological system.
To prevent any disruption to the natural evolutionary process, Japan has already been considering registering the island as a wilderness area to ban people from the island.
At the moment, Nishinoshima is only being monitored from the air and satellite imagery, such as the one accessed via Spaceknow Analytics, plays an integral role in studying its formation.