The world's newest island, which won't be here for long, rose from the waters of the Pacific Ocean off the island state of Tonga following the eruption of an underwater volcano last December.

The island made of volcanic ash is located some 65 kilometers southwest of Tonga's capital, Nuku'alofa. This new island is over one kilometer wide, two kilometers long and 280 meters high.

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It formed after the eruption of the underwater volcano, Hunga Tonga, hurled massive amounts of volcanic ash and rock into the ocean.

The first three visitors set foot on this island earlier this year. One of these visitors, Tonga resident and hotel owner, GP Orbassano, landed on the island with a friend and his son and climbed to the top of the island's crater some 250 meters high.

"It's really quite solid once you are on it and it's quite high," Orbassano told News.com.au.

Orbassano said the island's surface was hot, "you could feel it. And climbing it was hard in the bright sun."

He said the volcano is now filled with water and smells like sulfur. Orbassano believes the island was high enough for it to remain for some time, and could attract tourists.

Scientists, however, warn against visiting the island, saying the new island is highly unstable and vulnerable to waves and currents. They believe the island will disappear into the ocean in a few months, hence the futility of giving this island a name.

The Kingdom of Tonga is a Polynesian sovereign state and archipelago consisting of 177 islands with a total surface area of 750 square kilometers scattered over 700,000 square kilometers in the southern Pacific Ocean.

Over 90 percent of the population is considered overweight with more than 60 percent of these obese. Tonga and nearby Nauru have the world's highest overweight and obese populations.