How a fake island existed on Google Earth

A group of Australian researchers "undiscovered" a mysterious place called Sandy Island in northwest of New Caledonia, last year.

The island had popped up on maps, and it even showed up as a black polygon on Google Earth. But when scientists sailed there last November, they found open water instead of solid ground, reports Fox News.

Researchers have now explained why the phantom landmass had been included on some maps for more than a century, pointing to some human errors and a possible pumice raft.

Sandy Island was first recorded by the whaling ship Velocity in 1876 and first mentioned on a British Admiralty chart in 1908. But future expeditions failed to find the island, and it was removed from some official hydrographic charts by the 1970s.

However, the errant island stuck on some maps and then crept into digital databases like the widely used World Vector Shoreline Database, which was developed by the US military.

Maria Seton, of the University of Sydney said that during the conversion from hard-copy charts to digital formats the 'Sandy Island' error was entrenched.

Seton and her colleagues speculate that what the crew of the Velocity saw in the first place that led to the false discovery of the island might have been a giant pumice raft.

Pumice forms when volcanic lava cools quickly, trapping gas inside and creating lightweight rocks that can float.