How a small island in Canada appeared, vanished, and was found again

A small, floating island on a lake in the Canadian province of British Columbia has been spotted again after officials lost track of it on satellite images following its initial discovery.

The forested island was first spotted in the middle of Williston Reservoir, BC's largest fresh water lake, in early August by boaters who captured the scene in a video that has since gone viral.

A satellite image from late July confirmed the existence of the island, which is the size of about one-and-a-half American football fields. But a few weeks later, it had vanished from that spot.

Officials in BC say they have now been able to locate it again near shore, though it's unclear where it came from.

Bob Gammer, a spokesperson for BC Hydro, a government-owned utility that maintains the reservoir and a nearby dam, first learned of the island's existence after seeing a video of it circulating on Canadian social media pages.

The video, taken by boaters, shows a forested patch of land that appeared to be bobbing in the water.

Gammer said he at first thought it was an AI-generated clip.

"I thought, well, this could be anywhere," he told the BBC. "Maybe it's not real."

But a satellite image pulled up by his team from 21 July confirmed it was real, and was indeed floating in the middle of the reservoir in a remote northern part of the province.

The island, however, appeared to have vanished in a satellite image taken just a few weeks later on 5 August. Its disappearance was covered by several international news outlets, sparking intrigue around the globe.

"We just don't know where it went," Gammer said. "Did it sink? Did it find its way into another corner of the reservoir?"

Gammer said he can now put the questions to bed. The island, he said, appears to have simply drifted towards shore and landed around 30 km (18.6 miles) from where it was first spotted.

This was confirmed by a new satellite image and a couple of eyewitness account from pilots flying above, he said.

BC Hydro estimates the island to be 9,800 square metres, or one hectare - roughly the size of one Canadian football field, or 1.5 American football fields.

As to its origins, Gammer said BC Hydro is still not entirely sure, but there is one strong theory: the island likely formed over many years from accumulating driftwood that served as a base for plants and trees to take root.

He added he believes it broke off from the reservoir's shoreline this summer as water levels rose to a high not seen since 2012.

Floating islands have been spotted elsewhere.

One such island in Wisconsin's Lake Chippewa is known as the Forty Acre Bog. It is thought to be the result of peat bogs detaching from the bottom of the lake and floating to the surface.

Some years, local boaters will push the floating bog to prevent it from drifting towards local bridge.

It houses diverse wildlife, according to the Lake Chippewa Flowage Resort Association, such as frogs and salamanders, and - like the rest of the lake and its shoreline - is legally protected by state laws.

Local resident Cheryl Treland told Wisconsin Public Radio in 2024 that the bog is "like an iceberg".

"This isn't like a leaf floating on the top of the water," she said.

Gammer cautioned that the island in BC is not a stable structure, and he advised against attempting to step foot on it.

"It is remote, and most people will never come near it," he said.

For those with the means and the drive to seek it out, he had this warning: "Stay off the island. It could break apart."