On Sunday, the European Space Agency (ESA) announced that the still unnamed island is now visible from space, showcasing images that were taken with its Landsat 9 satellite on November 3.
The latest set of eruptions, which began on October 21 and had accelerated to an eruption every couple minutes by the end of the month, shot a stream of gas and ash more than 50 meters (160 feet) above the ocean’s surface.
Volcanic activity has been increasing around Iwo Jima, with a series of eruptions occurring in nearly the same location last year.
While the island has not yet been named, it might not last long enough to receive one. Yuji Usui, an analyst for the Japan Meteorological Agency volcanic division told US media that the new island’s “crumbly” formation is easily washed away by waves and that it has already begun to shrink.
“We just have to see the development,” Usui said. “But the island may not last very long.”
That is what happened to an island off the coast of Pakistan, which formed following a deadly 7.7 magnitude earthquake in the country in 2013. That island, which received the name Zalzala Koh, started sinking soon after its formation, dropping 3 meters (10 feet) in a month. By the end of 2016, the island had disappeared into the Arabian Sea.
But other newly formed islands have had more success sticking around. Also in 2013, an island formed when Nishinoshima erupted off the coast of Japan in the Pacific Ocean. That island continued to grow as volcanic activity persisted over a decade. That island eventually merged with Nishinoshima itself.