The disappearance of a Japanese uninhabited island has caused conspiracy theorists to believe it hasn't simply gone underwater, but has instead just been deleted from satellite images.

The uninhabited islet of Esanbehanakitakojima was used to delineate Japan’s territorial waters.

According to the Japan Coast Guard, Esanbehanakitakojima was surveyed in 1987 and it was recorded as being just 1.4m above sea level.

Tomoo Fujii, a senior official of the coast guard, told reporters: “There is a possibility that the islet has been eroded by wind and snow and, as a result, disappeared."

It was located about 500 meters off the coast of Sarufutsu village near the northern tip of Hokkaido.

It is one of 158 uninhabited islands that were given names by the country's government in 2014 to clearly mark Japanese territorial waters.

In a video on the Science Channel's Youtube page, a narrator explains: "The disappearance of an entire island can sometimes be the result of a cataclysmic volcanic event."