The world's newest island rose from the sea off Japan's Iwo Jima island in the Pacific Ocean.

The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) told CNN that the unnamed island was formed by an underwater volcanic eruption.

Its rise from the ocean was captured in photos taken by the country's Maritime Self-Defense Force on November 1.

The photos show a small eruption that created black ash clouds over the small island, now part of Ogasawara.

 Island chain.

JMA has been recording volcanic activity in the area since last year, but the University of Tokyo's Institute of Earthquake Research confirmed that the eruption that formed the island took place on October 30.

Setsuya Nakada, professor emeritus of volcanology at the University of Tokyo, told the Japan Times this week that the magma had accumulated underwater for some time before emerging.

The island is about 1,200 km south of mainland Japan and 1 km from Iwo Jima, which was the site of some of the fiercest battles of World War II in the Pacific.

 U.S.

 Marines fought tens of thousands of Japanese troops stationed there in a battle that killed more than 7,000 Americans and 22,000 Japanese troops.