Explorers travelling through the Antarctic’s Weddell Sea have discovered a mysterious island. While traversing an area marked as a “danger zone”, the 93-strong crew of the Polarstern were forced to seek shelter after running into rough weather. Next to Joinville Island, they spotted a mysterious brown landmass, which turned out to be an untouched island.

Simon Dreutter, a specialist in underwater mapping at Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), said: “On our route, the nautical chart showed an area with unexplored dangers to navigation, but it wasn’t clear what it was or where the information came from. I scoured all the coastlines we had here in the bathymetry lab and went back to the bridge.

“We then changed course and headed in that direction, and it became increasingly clear that we had an island in front of us.”

The Polartern team came within 150 metres of the island and, using a drone, they were able to explore it from above.

They determined it to be 130 metres long, 50 metres wide, and protruding about 16 metres above the water, making it about the same length as the Great Pyramid of Giza.

The experts said satellite images could hardly distinguish the island from the icebergs drifting around it, due to its ice cover.

One person suggested: “They should call it Eisberg.” Another joked: “Bird Rendezvous Island.”

A third suggested “Lummerland” after the island from Michael Ende’s children’s book Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver.