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A new island formed from volcanic activity near Nishinoshima Island in the Ogasawara island chain south of Tokyo has expanded to around eight times its size at the time of its discovery last month, analysis revealed on Dec. 24.

The analysis was conducted by assistant professor Fukashi Maeno of the Earthquake Research Institute at the University of Tokyo using photographs he took from the Mainichi Newspapers plane "Kibo" on Dec. 20. He estimated the volcanic crater on the island is as high as 50 meters above sea level.

Maeno estimates the island's area as of Dec. 20 at around 120,000 square meters. The island was around 450 meters long and wide. Around 2 million cubic meters of lava had erupted from it. Based on the manner in which the island was expanding, the daily eruption amount seems to be increasing.

However, while at first the island expanded eastward, this has now stopped, and parts of the island now show erosion from waves.

Maeno said, "The ocean in the northwest direction into which the island is expanding gets shallower the closer one gets to Nishinoshima island, so the rate of expansion could increase."