The island that didn’t exist

After more than a decade of being on world maps, the world coastline database, and being visible via Google Earth – researchers from Sydney discovered that Sandy Island in the Coral Sea off Australia does not exist. The team of geologists were on a 25-day expedition to study plate tectonics when they realized the island was in their route but as crew member Dr. Steven Micklethwaite points out – they were surprised with their discovery, “We decided to actually sail through the island…lo and behold there was nothing! The ocean floor didn’t ever get shallower than 1300 meters below the wave-base. There’s an island in the middle of nowhere that doesn’t actually exist.” According to Danny Dorling president of the British Society of Cartographers, says the case of Sandy Island is probably due to  human error but didn’t rule out the possibility of the island actually existing somewhere nearby.

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