Bean-shaped underwater island found on Google Map’s satellite view of the Arabian sea off Kochi coast.
First reported by TNM, a mass of land close to the size of west Cochin appeared on the map. However, people have not seen it. Both experts and locals find it baffling and speculate the presence of an underwater island.
The case of the underwater island
The new discovery is under investigation by the Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies (KUFOS). It first garnered attention from a letter to KUFOS by the Chellanam Karshika Tourism Development Society. The letter requests for research to understand the reasons behind its formation and appearance. They suspect that it is due to coastal erosion and water currents. The landmass can also be helpful for artificial shore conservation studies in Chellanam.
First discovered by the organization’s president Mr. Xavier Julappan Kalipparambil who shared a screenshot of the island from Google Maps on Facebook. According to his Facebook post, the landmass is around 8 km long and 3.5 km wide.
Expert’s opinions
“Looking at Google Maps, this looks like any other underwater island that we see across the globe. There have been similar observations, and there is a specific shape also for this. But we don’t know if it is sand or clay and whether it’s distributed regularly. We can only find that out through an investigation. Only after that, we can say anything concrete about this,” said K Riji John, the Vice-Chancellor of KUFOS. Moreover, he assured that KUFOS will conduct meetings with experts and start a study in the near future.
“Normally, due to factors like underwater current, littoral drift, processes like accretion (coastal sediment returning to shore) or erosion of the coast, are observed. In Kerala itself, towards the south region, there is the problem of erosion, while in areas like Vypeen, km along accretion is observed. We cannot say exactly whether this phenomenon is also due to the same reason,” he added.
Additionally, representatives from the Chellanam Karshika Tourism Development Society reported that they have been keeping an eye on the underwater island for the past four years. They have not observed a change in its size.