A new island appeared in a B.C. lake, then it disappeared
Where did this island come from? And where did it go?
Earth is evolving before our very eyes. We can see these changes in real time as volcanoes erupt, rivers redirect, and earthquakes undulate the ground beneath our feet.
But some of those changes are inexplicably odd. Take, for instance, the island that randomly appeared and then disappeared in a British Columbia lake this summer.
DON’T MISS: How does a river know where to bend? Turns out, it’s chaos
A sizable island’s sudden appearance draws confusion
British Columbia’s Williston Lake is a human-made reservoir on the Peace River created by the construction of the W. A. C. Bennett Dam during the 1960s.
Several individuals in the region noted the presence of a new island floating in the reservoir about 100 km west of the dam and 180 km west of Fort St. John.
Measuring nearly the size of a football stadium, the island appeared in a single pass of Sentinel 2 satellite imagery on July 21, 2026. There was no trace of the island in either the previous pass on July 16 or the subsequent pass on Aug. 5.
A report from CBC News’ Matt Preprost highlighted the unusual nature of this event: “The discovery left a B.C. Hydro spokesperson incredulous when CBC News first inquired about the island's origins.”
B.C. Hydro told several news outlets that the island is likely a floating raft of organic debris rather than a true earthen island.
Island creation is usually less mysterious
Island creation in our lifetime is almost always the result of volcanic eruptions. Stable islands usually take thousands or millions of years to establish themselves amid harsh environments.
Anak Krakatoa, for instance, emerged in the 1920s from the caldera formed by Krakatoa’s 1883 eruption, but it remains volcanically active and unstable. The habitable Hawaiian Islands, on the other hand, range in age from 400,000 to several million years old.
Waves, weather, and geological churn can erode a new island in the blink of an eye. Tonga’s Home Reef has appeared and disappeared several times in modern history. A mud volcano created a temporary island in the Caspian Sea off the coast of Azerbaijan in the early 2020s.