An underwater volcano, 300 miles off the coast of Cannon Beach, appears to be erupting.
A “snowblower” hydrothermal vent spews hot water and white bits of bacterial matter that are blooming in the chemical-rich hot-spring water, showing that the lava flow that was erupted in 2011 at Axial Seamount, is still cooling.
Bill Chadwick, Oregon State University, Copyright Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Last fall, scientists placed a series of measuring devices on the Axial Seamount, to see if they could predict when it might erupt.
Geologist Bill Chadwick, with Oregon State University, says it appeared an eruption was imminent then last week the devices lit-up.
"All of a sudden there were thousands of tiny earthquakes that told us that magma was starting to move to the surface," he said. "At about the same time we saw the seafloor start dropping like a rock. Over the first few days it dropped eight feet. So it's a big event."
A spider crab inspects an ocean-bottom hydrophone (OBH) as it sits on the seafloor at Axial Seamount before the 2011 eruption. The OBH is a monitoring instrument designed to detect undersea earthquakes.
Bill Chadwick, Oregon State University
The movement was not sudden enough to cause a tsunami.
The team's successful forecast was based on research showing the volcano inflates and deflates like a balloon, as magma flows in and out of its chamber.
Scientists will know for sure about the eruption after research vessels scan the area this summer.
