Scientists 'Undiscover' Pacific Island

Scientists 'Undiscover' Pacific Island

www.smh.com.au

Most explorers dream of discovering uncharted territory, but a team of Australian scientists have done the exact opposite.
They have found an island that doesn't exist.
The island, named Sandy Island on Google Earth, also exists on marine charts and world maps and allegedly sits between Australia and New Caledonia in the south Pacific.

But when the voyage's chief scientist, Maria Seton, and her crew sailed past where the island should be, they found nothing but blue ocean.

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
www.answers.com

Located : 19 degrees 13' 18.18" S, 159 degrees 56' 13.54" E
Just west of New Caledonia

You'll notice on Google Earth and related maps, they are all blacked out!

Seems kind of odd that would be identified some time ago, Google Earth picking it up, then magically it disappears.
Apparently also appears on nautical charts.

There's been no real sea-level rise sufficient enough to cover an obvious sandy atoll.

Question remains - why is it blacked out ?

Like to hear you opinions

www.smh.com.au
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by lavenlaar


I've lost keys, money, girlfriends, bets, and directions.

But never an island.

Strange indeed.

Back in 2009

Google Earth shows it as Sandy Island with no further explanation.

Sandy Island is located at 19 degrees 13' 18.18" S, 159 degrees 56' 13.54" E

I noticed it is blacked out on Yahoo maps and Bing maps as well.

Anyone have any idea what is located here?productforums.google.com...#!topic/earth/V5gNYv_lFjw

And another poster:

I opened the "more" folder in the Layers panel in Google Earth and turned on the digital globe layer archive. There is imagery that has been taken over this island, some from 2009. When you click on the low [ 0-10%] cloud cover tiles, when you look at what should cross with the island shape, all you see is blue water with some clouds floating over. This seems to be the case for the different years. It seems odd.

Possible explanation is "Bad Data"... traced back to 1979.

confirmend with the French Hydrograpic office today, there is a bad area in the elevation model. NW of new Caledonia, SE of Recif Bampton is a phantom Island, Sand Is. This was removed from the navigation charts in 1979. There is no directly measured or gravity derived batymetry to suport this feature. Please disregard this feature.

Peace

Could it have been a possible nuclear testing ground and it is now merely an underwater crater. Or maybe it never really existed and was a mistake due to navigational problems?
Im only taking guesses here though.

reply to post by lavenlaar


Out of all the things I've read on ATS lately, this has to be the strangest. It just seems terribly odd, and I'm not quite sure what to say.

Hmmm....Should have called it turtle island.

This actually doesn't surprise me. Especially with all the Earthquakes and fault line cracking and even a small sea level change. I like looking at islands with google maps some of them are practically nothing. just a tiny tip of dirt sticking up if you can even find the one you're looking for they are so small... like yard sized.

I'd be scared without a good sized boat because I wouldn't be able to even stop thinking about the possibility of being washed away. It would never stop crossing my mind on some of the teeniest islands... so I can imagine it disappearing.

With the right equipment it would be awesome.

Originally posted by rickymouse
Hmmm....Should have called it turtle island.

lol - we already have one called turtle island in Gladstone Qld
www.privateislandsonline.com...

img.abovetopsecret.com...

STRANGE....

If you open in Google Maps, without the Satellite, you can see the outline,
maps.google.com...,160.082474&spn=0.389687,0.716171&t=m&z=11&vp6&lci=com.panoramio.all&pw=2

Can someone with GE please get the measurements for me?

Originally posted by lavenlaar
Like to hear you opinions

Many mapmakers put in deliberate but unobtrusive and non obvious "mistakes" into the thir maps so that they can know when somebody steals the map data.
This may just go back to somebody doing this in the past, and that data has lived on through further copies.

Read, for example, this wikipedia page on Fictitious Entry.

I must be blazing new trails as well, my cars GPS continually tells me I am on a non existent road

Interesting thread, sometimes we forget that there can be just as much mystery in explaining a disappearance as compared to a discovery.

I think it was also called Madoff Island.
I believe it has been repossessed
The storage fees are going to be HUGE!

Originally posted by ZakOlongapo
img.abovetopsecret.com...

STRANGE....

Yeah, that is odd.. I had to go thru the problems of reinstalling Google Earth (It simply uninstalls itself over time, without anyone knowing.. ) and only to see it's a black blot.

Not sure why they'd have no detail there, or why there would be any reason to affect that area.

Interesting that if you use the timeline slider, the image is the same from 2000 to 2009.

No doubt people will assume googles lack of attention to detail is yet again proof that they're hiding secret alien bases or portals or something.. guess we'll never know.

Originally posted by alfa1

Originally posted by lavenlaar
Like to hear you opinions

Many mapmakers put in deliberate but unobtrusive and non obvious "mistakes" into the thir maps so that they can know when somebody steals the map data.
This may just go back to somebody doing this in the past, and that data has lived on through further copies.

Read, for example, this wikipedia page on Fictitious Entry.

Perfect!!

I'm glad sanity arrived before fantasy. I hope people take this into consideration, it might very well simply be this.

Either that or...



You have to understand, everything I did, I did for the Island.

o.O

The island could be stuck in a time loop and only visible sometimes.
It could be there when the boat came by but a magnetic disturbance could cause the island to "not exist".
In other words, the inhabitants of the island could be stuck in a different "time" and thus invisible to our "time" except when the dimensions converge (probably due to attacks on its magnetic field due to solar activity).

I don't know, I just asked my 6 year old nephew what he though about an invisible island and thats what he told me.

reply to post by spacedoubt


Where did Madoff's missing billions go?
i thought he will create island... not disappear one

I'm going to go with it really existed there at one time when it was first written about and may have eroded away. My guess is that over the preceding decades maps were simply updated but nobody actually checked on it's recent status as it slowly turned into a sand bar then poof.

LOL on the "Lost" reference!

However: How do you "undiscover" something???

Okay, so when they went there, the island is not there. That still means that they "discovered" something: that the island is not there. That is a discovery! They've discovered that an island that is suppose to be there is not (for what ever reason).

About the closest thing I think of to being "undiscovered" would be something like concrete: the Romans discovered how to make it and use it, then when the Roman empire fell, the knowledge of how to make it was lost, only to be "rediscovered" (1700's wasn't it? Portland cement? Can't remember exactly).

Sorry, just that word "Undiscovered" tickled my funny bone!