Mile-wide volcano set to erupt off the West Coast this year as scientists reveal ‘balloon keeps getting bigger’

Daily Mail

Axial Seamount, a massive underwater volcano located nearly 300 miles off the Oregon coast, is showing signs of an imminent eruption.
Its resemblance to Mauna Loa, Earth’s largest active volcano, and the typical non-explosive nature of shield volcano eruptions, lessens the concern among volcanologists about the imminent eruption.
‘Axial’s summit inflates like a balloon as magma is supplied from below and stored in the reservoir beneath the volcano summit,’ Chadwick told OregonLive.
Despite its location on the Juan de Fuca Ridge, Axial Seamount does not have the capability of triggering a major earthquake.
This makes Axial Seamount, with its three decades of continuous monitoring, a unique and invaluable resource.

POSITIVE

Nearly 300 miles off the coast of Oregon, the enormous underwater volcano known as Axial Seamount is exhibiting warning indications of an impending eruption.

The 3,600-foot-tall volcano, which is 1,25 miles across and 4,626 feet below the surface of the Pacific Ocean, is presently rumbling and swelling significantly, which is a sign of magma buildup.

Despite its activity, scientists are not concerned about the eruption that volcanoes predict will occur before the end of 2025.

This event is exciting, said Mike Poland, a scientist at the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, who noted that Axial Seamount is one of the best-monitored submarine volcanoes in the world.

He told Cowboy State Daily, “This specific volcano is probably the best-monitored submarine volcano in the world.”. It’s intriguing and not particularly dangerous. “…

The young shield volcano, Axial Seamount, is located along the Juan de Fuca Ridge, a chain of underwater volcanoes that stretches from Oregon to Alaska. It is a low-profile, broader volcano.

Volcanologists are not as concerned about the impending eruption because of its similarity to Mauna Loa, the largest active volcano on Earth, and the fact that shield volcano eruptions are usually non-explosive.

He predicted that the eruption of Axial Seamount would resemble a Hawaiian lava flow. Calm lava effusions are flowing out of the caldera and across the seafloor; it’s not an explosive eruption. “.”.

The enormous underwater volcano Axial Seamount, which is situated almost 300 miles off the coast of Oregon, is exhibiting warning indications of an impending eruption (pictured: 3D thermal view of volcano).

Standing 3,600 feet tall, the volcano is 4,626 feet below the ocean’s surface.

Based on his close observation of the volcano’s activity, Oregon State University Research Associate Bill Chadwick believes that Axial Seamount will erupt by the end of 2025.

We call it the most active volcano in the Pacific Northwest because it has had three eruptions in the last 30 years. Most volcanoes on land aren’t active very often and spend most of their time dormant, but Axial has a fairly active supply of magma, Chadwick told local CBS affiliate KOIN 6 News.

Therefore, if it isn’t erupting, it is preparing for the next one by inflating. Thus, we’re constantly keeping an eye on what’s going on with it. “.”.

Poland claims that Axial Seamount has undoubtedly erupted many times before the 1998, 2011 and 2015 recorded eruptions.

Because of the continuous inflation of Axial Seamount, which has mirrored pre-eruption levels, volcanologists believe an eruption is imminent.

At the beginning of the 2015 eruption, the seafloor of Axial rose more than one meter annually. By 2023, this rate had progressively decreased to around one centimeter annually.

Chadwick, however, noticed that the seafloor was starting to re-inflate more quickly in 2024, reaching about 25 centimeters annually.

“Magma is supplied from below and stored in the reservoir beneath the volcano summit, causing Axial’s summit to inflate like a balloon,” Chadwick told OregonLive.

Scientists are not concerned despite the volcano’s activity, even though they predict an eruption before the end of 2025.

Axial Seamount is a young shield volcano located along the Juan de Fuca Ridge, a chain of underwater volcanoes that stretches between Oregon and Alaska.

The balloon continually expands in size. And eventually, the magma forces open a fissure and flow to the surface when the pressure becomes too high. The “balloon” deflates and the seafloor sinks as a result. “.”.

According to Chadwick’s presentation at OSU’s Hatfield Marine Center, increasing seismic activity rocked Axial in the months leading up to its 2015 eruption, culminating in 9,000 earthquakes on the day of the eruption.

Chadwick told KOIN 6 News that the number of earthquakes, which are also tracked by this cable observatory, has significantly increased in the past year.

Therefore, all of these indicators point to the last phases of the eruption’s buildup. “…

Lava can still cause significant damage from shield volcanoes, even though they are not usually linked to explosive eruptions.

But because the Axial Seamount is thousands of feet below the Pacific Ocean’s surface, the water column above it exerts tremendous pressure on it.

“The ocean’s immense water pressure prevents deep submarine eruptions,” Poland told Cowboy State Daily.

Even violent eruptions can’t defeat the ocean. “…

The magma that will ultimately erupt from the Axial Seamount will be quickly cooled by the direct contact with cold ocean water, forming a solidified crust that will insulate the inner part of the lava flow.

Axial Seamount is “the best-monitored submarine volcano in the world,” according to Mike Poland, a scientist at the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory.

Bill Chadwick, a research associate at Oregon State University, believes that given its recent surge in activity, Axial Seamount will erupt by the end of 2025.

Jason, a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) for underwater exploration and sample collection, is one of several instruments the OSU research team has used to monitor Axial Seamount.

The vertical movement of the seafloor is monitored by precise pressure sensors. Modern fiber-optic cable technology now allows real-time data transmission from a variety of scientific instruments, whereas battery-powered recorders were used in the past.

“I can look at my laptop and see data that was collected 10 minutes ago at Axial,” Chadwick told Oregon Live, emphasizing the unparalleled degree of real-time monitoring that makes Axial the world’s most thoroughly researched submarine volcano.

Chadwick stressed that there is no public safety risk associated with these eruptions. Even though Axial Seamount is situated on the Juan de Fuca Ridge, it is not capable of causing a significant earthquake.

“Unless you dangled a hydrophone—an underwater microphone—into the water, you might be hearing some commotion from down deep, but, if you were out there on a ship just over the seamount, you would never know anything was happening.”. “But there isn’t any impact on the surface,” he told KOIN 6 News.

“To see what’s happened, you’d have to dive with a submersible, remotely operated vehicle, or something.”. “.”.

Without the limitations and concerns that come with on-land volcanic eruptions, Chadwick sees these eruption predictions as useful scientific experiments.

“It’s not about people’s lives,” he told Oregon Live. “On land, this forecasting is impossible without fear of false alarms, frightening people, and having an impact on the economy.”. Without being certain that you must, you don’t want to evacuate towns and everything. “…

Axial Seamount’s magmatic system schematic model. Lava flows in 1998, 2011, and 2015 are represented by green, blue, and cyan polygons on the seafloor, respectively.

Pillow lavas are created when lava cools quickly due to the ocean’s tremendous water pressure, which also inhibits explosive eruptions.

Pictured: The crew members who took part in the 2013 underwater mission to track Axial Seamount’s inflation.

The ultimate objective of Chadwick is to use the knowledge gathered from these eruption predictions to develop a more comprehensive understanding of volcanic behavior on a global scale.

Poland adds that scientists can apply their findings to other volcanoes if the forecast turns out to be accurate.

In addition to the fact that scientists have only lately been able to access the vast amounts of data required to forecast volcanic eruptions, many volcanoes around the world, both on land and underwater, lack real-time monitoring systems.

With its thirty years of ongoing monitoring, Axial Seamount is a unique and priceless resource because of this.

It’s incredible that we as a society can predict when a volcano that is offshore and submerged in a great deal of water will erupt, Poland told Oregon Live. “If you can create a model that explains how this operates at Axial, it provides us with a foundation that we can use elsewhere and, with minor adjustments, we can start working on forecasts of other volcanoes.”. “…

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