Sandy Island, New Caledonia

Coordinates: 19°13′S 159°56′E / 19.22°S 159.93°E / -19.22; 159.93
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Topographical map showing the supposed location of Sandy Island
Topographical map showing the supposed location of Sandy Island
Landsat satellite image showing the supposed location of Sandy Island. The Chesterfield Islands are visible to the west.

Sandy Island (sometimes labelled in French: "Île de Sable") is an island supposedly located between Australia and New Caledonia in the Coral Sea. The island appears on many world maps spanning several hundred years. Google Maps displayed the island[1][2] until 26 November 2012, when it was removed. On Google Earth's default view the island area is covered by black pixels, but the program's historical imagery feature has a satellite image of the southern portion taken by DigitalGlobe on 3 March 2009 showing a darkened sea.

A claim that the island does not exist was made by some amateur radio enthusiasts on a DX-pedition in April 2000.[3][4] They noted that the island was presented on some maps but it was not presented on others such as the 1999 Times Atlas of the World, 10th Edition.[4] A discovery of the island's absence was again made on 22 November 2012 by Australian scientists aboard the RV Southern Surveyor studying plate tectonics in the area. During the voyage, they noticed a discrepancy between different maps and decided to sail to the supposed location to investigate. No island was found and navigation charts showed a depth of 1,400 metres (4,600 ft).[5][6][2] They claim to have sailed through the purported island and found that "The ocean floor actually didn’t ever get shallower than 1,300 meters below the wave base…"[7]

The status of the purported island has become the subject of discussion on scientific mailing lists such as GMT-HELP.[8]

The Australian Hydrographic Service, a department of the Royal Australian Navy, said that mapping an island as a copyright trap—a practice in cartography to place a fictitious "trap street" on a map for the purpose of trapping potential copyright violators—would not have been standard practice with nautical charts, and its appearance may be simply due to human error.[5] If the island existed, it would be within French territorial waters.[5]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Scientists un-discover Pacific island". 3 News NZ. 23 November 2012. Retrieved 23 November 2012.
  2. ^ a b "Scientists un-discover Pacific island". University of Sydney. 23 November 2012.
  3. ^ "Sandy 'Marie Celeste' Island undiscovered - again: Radio hams beat science by a decade". The Register. 22 November 2012. Retrieved 22 November 2012.
  4. ^ a b "TXØDX challenges National Geographic (Bulletin 16)". TXØDX. 10 April 2000. Retrieved 22 November 2012.
  5. ^ a b c "South Pacific Sandy Island 'proven not to exist'". BBC News. 22 November 2012. Retrieved 22 November 2012.
  6. ^ "The Pacific island that never was". The Guardian. 22 November 2012. Retrieved 22 November 2012.
  7. ^ "The mystery of the missing island". The Syndey Morning Herald. 22 November 2012. Retrieved 22 November 2012.
  8. ^ GMT-HELP (Mailing list). 22 November 2012 https://listserv.hawaii.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind1211&L=GMT-HELP&T=0&F=&S=&X=5A5927734D113E3E2F&P=105110. {{cite mailing list}}: Missing or empty |title= (help); Unknown parameter |mailinglist= ignored (|mailing-list= suggested) (help)

External links

19°13′S 159°56′E / 19.22°S 159.93°E / -19.22; 159.93

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