A piece of the United States has been dramatically wiped off the map after an island in Hawaii was washed away by a powerful hurricane.

East Island, a remote spit of gravel and sand that sat atop a coral reef, has vanished after having the misfortune to come into contact with Hurricane Walaka, an intense storm that surged past Hawaii during October.

Scientists have confirmed the disappearance of the 11-acre island after comparing satellite images of the surrounding French Frigate Shoals, part of an enormous protected marine area in the north-western Hawaiian Islands.

"So what" you may say, but this uninhabited island was home to endangered sea mammals, reptiles and birds and is further evidence that climate change is real and it's happening now.

Read more here.