The city of Kochi in the Ernakulam district of Kerala was in the news lately due to the discovery of a bean-shaped formation that was visible on Google Maps. Speculations were rife as to what the island was and the reasons for it to appear suddenly off the Kochi coast.
This formation was brought to the attention of Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Study or KUFOS by K. X. Julappan, president of Chellanam Karshika Tourism Development Society. Highlighting his discovery via a Facebook post on the 5th of June, he requested KUFOS to investigate this phenomenon as it could lead to new findings on erosion and ocean currents of the region.
KUFOS has announced that it will be investigating the matter although they claim that this formation has been on its radar for over 4 years but chose to ignore it as it wasn’t growing in size or affecting the geological implications of the region.
New islands being formed and some islands disappearing are a common occurrence nowadays. Most islands formed are peaks of underwater mountains and many of the clusters are all part of tall submerged mountain ranges. Changes in sea level, erosion, movement of the tectonic plates and underwater volcanic eruptions are all known to have an impact on the topography of the ocean floor and islands.
There have been instances of islands disappearing in Lakshwadeep and new ones temporarily forming in the Lakshwadeep – Maldives belt also known as the Chagos – Laccadive ridge. Most experts believe that this is a natural phenomenon and not something that needs extensive study and research. Even if there was the formation of an island, it would be one among many present all over the world.
Another section of experts believes that there is no actual landmass at the location and it is a technical glitch on Google maps. The high-resolution satellite images on Google Maps and Google Earth are restricted to land and the oceans tend to be generalised with a blue colour. This aberration could just be a glitch in the system. They compound their theory by citing examples of ship-tracking websites that show ships passing over the so-called island.
With the international scientific community focussing attention on this formation, the local authorities seem to be in a fix. This unwanted attention is sure to disrupt the functioning of the city which has just come out of a 2-month lockdown. A senior bureaucrat in the Cochin Mayor’s office was quite disturbed when we talked to her.
“Why can’t you people just leave this alone. We have so many important things to do like fighting the COVID19 virus. Do you know that Kerala is at the top of the country in the number of cases? Ernakulam district is at number 3 in Kerala. The cases are not coming down as we expected and this stress is getting to all of us. In between all that, you come to us with your new island.”
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/06/21/mysterious-island-off-the-coast-of-kochi-not-actually-an-island-claim-locals/