East Island disappears into the Pacific Ocean

Today’s Image of the Day from NASA Earth Observatory shows a remote island in the North Pacific just before it was practically wiped out by Hurricane Walaka.

The storm system moved past the Hawaiian Islands on October 3rd, affecting an island chain located about 550 miles northwest of Honolulu known as the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.

Extreme storm surges washed over many of the shallow islets, and one particular 11-acre strip known as East Island was almost completely wiped off the map. According to NASA, only two slivers of land have re-emerged.

This image of East Island was captured on September 11, 2018 by the Operational Land Imager on Landsat 8.

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By Chrissy Sexton, Earth.com Staff Writer

Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory