Royal New Zealand Navy finds huge floating pumice field in Pacific; Monowai Seamount volcano thought to have erupted

This news item is certainly fascinating, and there’s another fascinating observation in the stories that follow the leading one by CNN.

I think they’re quite noticeable.

See if you notice them.

Observations follow at the conclusion.

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‘Weirdest thing’ floats in South Pacific

By Todd Sperry, CNN
updated 10:36 PM EDT, Fri August 10, 2012

Officials reported the floating rock shelf to be 250 nautical miles long by 30 nautical miles wide.

(CNN) — Pumice, the lightweight stone used to smooth skin, is usually found in beauty salons, but on Thursday sailors from New Zealand‘s Royal Navy found nearly 10,000 square miles of the lava rock bobbing on the surface of the South Pacific Ocean.

By comparison, the state of Rhode Island comprises approximately 1,200 square miles.

Described by one sailor who witnessed it as