National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration
United States Department of Commerce

Forecasting the Next Eruption at Axial Seamount

3D image of Axial Seamount bathymetry

3D image of Axial Seamount bathymetry

October 30, 2014

PMEL’s Earth-Ocean Interactions program led by Oregon State University Cooperative Institute for Marine Resources Studies scientist, Dr. Bill Chadwick, has just launched a new blog aimed at analyzing and forecasting when the next eruption at Axial Seamount might occur. Axial Seamount is the most active submarine volcano in the NE Pacific. Located on the Juan de Fuca Ridge off the coast of Oregon, it was chosen as the site of the world's first underwater volcano observatory called NeMO and is now a node on the new Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) cabled observatory. Axial erupted most recently in 1998 and 2011.

Scientists from PMEL, Oregon State University, and University of North Carolina at Wilmington will be monitoring Axial closely.  Watch the blog for forecast updates.

PMEL Project: