I'm surprised they didn't blame "catastrophic sea level rises"

From the BBC:

A South Pacific island, shown on marine charts and world maps as well as on Google Earth and Google Maps, does not exist, Australian scientists say.

The supposedly sizeable strip of land, named Sandy Island on Google maps, was positioned midway between Australia and French-governed New Caledonia.

But when scientists from the University of Sydney went to the area, they found only the blue ocean of the Coral Sea. The phantom island has featured in publications for at least a decade.

You can still see it on Google Maps, go to New Caledonia and head north-west, but no doubt in a few days' time it will disappear for ever.
All a bit sad really. No doubt the nearby Katrina Shoals will be deleted shortly as well. It's like when they decided that Pluto was no longer a planet.