Mysterious 'ghost island' appears and then disappears on Google Maps, confusing scientists

There is a 'ghost island' in the South Pacific that has puzzled geographers for years now.

That 'island' was supposed to be a small strip of land, named Sandy Island. It is present on many types of maps, including Google maps, but it is extremely mysterious.

On Google Earth, people will see this 'island' located between Australia and New Caledonia. It's a dark streak, but there's not much detail on the island like the nearby islands, making it even more eerie.

Location of the "ghost island".

Captain James Cook, the famous British explorer, has also marked 'Sandy I' on the map since 1776, according to the Daily Express. Exactly 100 years later, a passing boat recorded that this island was seen. But in 1979, the French Hydrographic Service suddenly removed it from the charts. In 2012, Google also removed Sandy Island from Google Maps. However, many users say they still see 'something' on the satellite images. Even over the years, people sometimes see 'ghost islands' when using Google Earth, sometimes not.

So Australian scientists decided to visit the place to see how Sandy Island is. Unexpectedly, in that position, they saw nothing but blue ocean waves - completely different from what they expected. And this sea is about 1,400 meters deep, which means it is less likely that there is something underneath the water that was previously visible but is not now.

You can see it on the map, but when you get there, you can't see it.

Maria Seton of the University of Sydney told AFP: 'We wanted to check because it (the island) is on Google Earth and other maps. But it turned out that there were no islands there. We were very surprised. So how did it show up on the maps? Unknowingly, this is strange'.

There is still no official explanation for the occasional appearance of Sandy Island, but the most popular theory is that Sandy Island is the floating remnant of a submerged volcano or an undersea eruption. These ruins can sometimes travel for miles and perhaps Captain Cook thought it was an island.

Zooming in, it is also unclear what details on the "island", making many people curious.

According to the Mirror page, we can still see Sandy Island if we look at the coordinates 19.22oS 159.93oE. However, no one has been able to confirm that this island ever existed or not, or if it hasn't completely disappeared, where is it now.