'Snoopy' Emerges From Japan's New Island

Island created by volcano expands, takes shape of Charlie Brown's pal
By Polly Davis Doig,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 31, 2013 10:16 AM CST
'Snoopy' Emerges From Japan's New Island
Smoke billows from a new island off the coast of Nishinoshima, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2013. The island has since expanded and merged with Nishinoshima to create a Snoopy-shaped landmass.   (AP Photo/Kyodo News)

From the volcanic ash of Japan's newest island, the shape of a beloved cartoon figure is rising. When volcanic activity birthed a new island off the coast of Nishinoshima island in November, Japan waited to name it lest it disappear. But to the contrary, the island, since named Niijima, has multiplied its original size about eight times over, practically merging with Nishinoshima in a way that, from above, looks a lot like the outline of Snoopy (image here). And as the Guardian reports, the Twitterverse wasted no time in dubbing the landmass "Snoopy island." But, before everyone completely geeks out, a Japanese volcanologist cautions that Snoopy could ultimately be undone by erosion. Though, "it could also remain permanently." (More Nishinoshima stories.)

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