Underwater volcanoes caught in the act of erupting in unprecedented detail
Eruptions of volcanoes on the sea floor have been caught and monitored in real time using an underwater observation station for the first time. Scientists set up a seven-station observatory on the sea floor at the Axial Seamount off the coast of Oregon in 2014. They could have had to wait for years before an eruption, but they were lucky. Just a year later they managed to record remotely an explosive eruption at the site, with magma erupting and spilling onto the sea floor. Read more
More than 80 scientists from around the world gathered in Seattle last week to discuss a thrilling development: For the first time, seafloor instruments were providing a real-time look at the most active, submarine volcano off the Northwest coast - and all signs indicated it might erupt soon. Read more
Undersea volcano gave off signals before eruption in 2011
A team of scientists that last year created waves by correctly forecasting the 2011 eruption of Axial Seamount years in advance now says that the undersea volcano located some 250 miles off the Oregon coast gave off clear signals just hours before its impending eruption. The researchers' documentation of inflation of the undersea volcano from gradual magma intrusion over a period of years led to the long-term eruption forecast. But new analyses using data from underwater hydrophones also show an abrupt spike in seismic energy about 2.6 hours before the eruption started, which the scientists say could lead to short-term forecasting of undersea volcanoes in the future. They also say that Axial could erupt again - as soon as 2018 - based on the cyclic pattern of ground deformation measurements from bottom pressure recorders. Read more
Scientists from Oregon State University claim to have made the first successful forecast of an underwater volcanic eruption. They have been studying the Axial Seamount for the last 13 years and had predicted it would erupt before 2014. Read more
Scientists find eruption at undersea volcano - after forecasting the event
A team of scientists just discovered a new eruption of Axial Seamount, an undersea volcano located about 250 miles off the Oregon coast - and one of the most active and intensely studied seamounts in the world. What makes the event so intriguing is that the scientists had forecast the eruption starting five years ago - the first successful forecast of an undersea volcano. Bill Chadwick, an Oregon State University geologist, and Scott Nooner, of Columbia University, have been monitoring Axial Seamount for more than a decade, and in 2006 published a paper in the Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research in which they forecast that Axial would erupt before the year 2014. Their forecast was based on a series of seafloor pressure measurements that indicated the volcano was inflating. Read more