On April 30, 2015, Axial seamount erupted. The good news is that this volcano is little threat to anyone. The pressure of the deep ocean above this volcano prevents any explosion from being observed on the surface. So why
On April 30, 2015, Axial seamount erupted. The good news is that this volcano is little threat to anyone. The pressure of the deep ocean above this volcano prevents any explosion from being observed on the surface. So why is this significant? The NOAA successfully predicted this eruption. This is the site of the New Millennium Observatory(NeMO), the first underwater volcano observatory, which is linked to land via a cabled array of sensors. These sensors detected significant inflation at this volcano prior to the eruption, followed by rapid deflation and a significant increase in water temperatures at the time of the eruption.
Axial Seamount is geologically interesting, because it is caused by a hotspot beneath a ridge. This hotspot is responsible for the Cobb–Eickelberg Seamount chain, and it lies directly beneath the Juan de Fuca ridge. It is also one of the few places where a seamount or a midocean ridge is close enough to land to perform a detailed geological study with modern seismic instruments. After the last eruption in 2011, we got some interesting pictures, such as one of their instruments being buried by a lava flow. Hopefully, we will be getting more shortly!