A bloated submarine volcano on the West Coast of the US is about to blow, and a good snippet of the event is set to be livestreamed straight to your screen.
The Axial Seamount is an underwater volcano in the Pacific Ocean around 480 kilometers (300 miles) from Oregon’s beaches. The submerged feature towers at around 1,100 meters (3,609 feet), with its summit reaching 1,410 meters (4,626 feet) below the sea surface.
The last time it erupted was 2015, exploding with a flurry of lava and volcanic debris across 40 kilometers (25 miles) of the surrounding seafloor. Late last year, geologists put out a warning that the seamount was showing all the tell-tale signs that another eruption was brewing.
“Axial Seamount has suddenly woken up!,” said the abstract to a talk given by William Chadwick, a geophysicist at Oregon State University, in December 2024.
“Based on the current trends, and the assumption that Axial will be primed to erupt when it reaches the 2015 inflation threshold, our current eruption forecast window is between now (July 2024) and the end of 2025,” it reads.
Exaggerated swatch bathymetry of Axial Seamount on the Juan de Fuca Ridge, approximately 480 kilometers (298 miles) west of Cannon Beach, Oregon.
Since 2016, the Ocean Observatory Initiative has been keeping a close eye on the region around the seamount using an HD video camera. It focuses on a 4.2-meter (14-foot) hot spring deposit called “Mushroom” located within the vent field of the Axial Seamount. Along with its constant outpouring of fluids, you can expect to see white bacterial mats, small tube worms, and potentially other marine life.
Livestreams of the footage will be broadcast during the hours of 2:00, 5:00, 8:00, and 11:00 EDT & PDT, day and night, for 14 minutes. You can check it out right here: https://interactiveoceans.washington.edu/instruments/high-definition-video-camera/.
Unfortunately, submarine volcanoes don’t abide by human timescales, so it’s very difficult to know when the eruption might occur. Be assured that, for now, the Axial Seamount is quietly mounting pressure at a rate that suggests an explosive event will unfold by the end of 2025.
The good news is that it does not pose any risk to human life. It won’t produce any tsunamis, earthquakes, or even a smoke plume, so most Earth-bound observers are likely to be blissfully unaware of the power it’s unleashing in the ocean.
Whenever it does erupt, however, it could bring colossal changes to neighboring marine life. The underwater eruption could cover the nearby seafloor with a fresh layer of lava, wiping out some ecosystems while providing others with fertile new ground.
Source Link: A Bloated Volcano On The West Coast Is Set To Erupt In 2025 – And It's Being Livestreamed Now
