One Of the Most Active Volcanoes In the World Is About to Blow.
The Axial Seamount—a volcano located 300 miles off the coast of Oregon and a mile underwater—is slowly showing signs of an impending eruption.
Although less well-known that other volcanic giants of the Cascades (particularly Mount St. Helens), this underwater volcano is actually the most active one in the Pacific Northwest.
With eruptions in 1998, 2011, and 2015, the volcano serves as a perfect laboratory, and experts expect an eruption by the end of 2025.
The Pacific Ocean's 'Ring of Fire' is the most volcanically active area of our planet. Part of that ring (though, it's really more a horseshoe) bisects the Pacific Northwest via the Cascade Range, and it's here that one of the most active volcanoes of the world can be found. The honor goes to the Axial Seamount—an underwater peak located some 300 miles off Oregon's coast—and scientists think it will erupt before the year is out.
Some volcanoes in the cascades can go centuries (or even millennia) without erupting, but the Axial Seamount's frequency can be measured in just years. In fact, the volcano is so active that it has become the site of the world's first underwater volcano observatory—the New Millennium Observatory (NEMO), which monitors ongoing changes at the summit's caldera. While being meticulously monitored since 1997, the volcano has undergone an eruption in 1998, 2011, and 2015, and it appears 2025 will soon be added to the list.
Thankfully, the Axial Seamount is different from the Northwest's other volcanoes, both in frequency and severity. According to Science Alert, the shield structure of the peak formed from thin lava, meaning that any eruption will likely ooze out magma and form new seafloor. This makes the threat of a possible tsunami extremely low.
The Axial Seamount is also not a part of the Cascadia Subduction Zone, which is the danger area in which experts believe an earthquake ominously nicknamed 'The Big One' will one day strike. Instead, it rests on the Juan de Fuca ridge further west, and its impending eruption likely won't have any impact on the seismic activity of the subduction zone along Oregon's coast.
Scientists at Oregon State University (OSU) and the University of North Carolina at Wilmington have actively studied how magma moves within the Axial system using bottom pressure recorders, according to a report by OPB. Every two years, scientists put out these bottom pressure recorders, collect the old recorders, and analyze the data. Bill Chadwick from OSU then uses the data to try to forecast when the Axial Seamount will erupt again.
In the summer of 2024, Chadwick reported on his blog that the rate of inflation within the Axial Seamount had been steadily increasing. An update in October of 2024 reported that the rate of inflation, as well as surrounding seismicity, has stabilized. 'An eruption does not seem imminent, but it can't do this forever,' Chadwick concluded. He stated that an eruption at the Axial Seamount between now and the end of 2025 was inevitable.
Scientists hope that by continuously monitoring the Axial Seamount, they can learn more about other volcanoes around the world. Luckily, the Pacific Northwest's most active volcano provides the perfect scientific laboratory.
You Might Also Like
The Do's and Don'ts of Using Painter's Tape
The Best Portable BBQ Grills for Cooking Anywhere
Can a Smart Watch Prolong Your Life?
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
18 hours ago
- Yahoo
Your Breathing Pattern Is as Unique as a Fingerprint, Study Finds
Every single human on this planet is as distinct as a snowflake; a combination of traits and genes and microbes that, as far as we can tell, is not replicated exactly in any other single human. One traits that is unique to each individual is the breath that sustains us. Each person has an idiosyncratic pattern to the constant inhale-exhale that counts out our hours, days, and years on this planet. That's what a team of scientists discovered after fitting people with a wearable device that monitored their nasal breathing. An analysis of the data revealed patterns that were detailed enough for the researchers to identify individuals with an accuracy of 96.8 percent. This 'respiratory fingerprint', says a team led by brain scientist Timna Soroka of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, could promote new ways to understand and treat physical and mental ailments. "You would think that breathing has been measured and analyzed in every way," says neuroscientist Noam Sobel of the Weizmann Institute of Science. "Yet we stumbled upon a completely new way to look at respiration. We consider this as a brain readout." We can take breathing somewhat for granted, but it's governed by a complex and extensive brain network that largely automates the process, permitting for conscious control by the individual when circumstances require – such as holding one's breath when jumping into water, for instance. Soroka, Sobel, and their colleagues at the Weizmann Olfaction Research Group have been investigating the way the brain processes scent during inhalation. During this research, they made the very small leap towards studying the concept of a breath-print. "The idea of using an individual's breathing pattern as a unique signature has been discussed for decades within the respiratory science community. You can easily see each person's uniqueness when you measure different people," Soroka told ScienceAlert. "However, there was no convenient way to measure it until now. The development of a tiny wearable device capable of recording over extended periods allowed us to measure 100 participants over 24 hours. This, in turn, enabled us to present the concept in a much more compelling way." The researchers developed a device that precisely monitors and logs the airflow through each nostril of the wearer. Then, they tasked 97 study participants with wearing the device for up to 24 hours. From just one hour of recording, the researchers achieved an accurate identification rate of 43 percent, Soroka said. This accuracy skyrocketed at 24 hours. The resulting breath log was then analyzed using a protocol known as BreathMetrics, which examines 24 parameters of the individual's nasal respiration. Since respiration is usually only measured for short periods of time – around 20 minutes or so – the resulting dataset was far more comprehensive than usually seen, giving a much more comprehensive view of each individual's respiration, from rest to exertion. "We expected to be able to identify individuals," Soroka said, "but not that it would be so strong." The researchers did not just find that an individual can be confidently identified based on their breathing pattern; the results also revealed what those breathing patterns can indicate about a person. There's the usual gamut of activities. A person at rest will have a distinct breathing pattern as opposed to someone out on a constitutional jog, for instance. The researchers also found that a person's breathing correlates with their BMI. The study participants were tasked with filling out questionnaires about their mental health. Those participants with self-reported anxiety issues generally had shorter inhales and more variability in the pauses between their breaths while sleeping. While not the purpose of the study, this indicates an avenue for further investigation. People undergoing significant stress or panic are given breathing exercises to help mitigate their symptoms. Perhaps working on conscious breathing could be more helpful than we thought. The next step, however, will be how this research might be applied to diagnostics, Soroka said. "We can learn how specific breathing patterns may predict various diseases," she explained. "But of course, in the future we will examine whether we can also treat disease by modifying respiratory patterns." The research has been published in Current Biology. Ozempic Without Nausea: Brain Cell Discovery Could Change Weight-Loss Drugs Popular 'What I Eat in a Day' Videos Could Have 5 Dangerous Downsides A Forgotten Cancer Is Surging in Young People, And Experts Are Puzzled
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
OSU falls victim to budget cuts, putting a damper on scientific research
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — The awarding of an OSU microfluidics research fund of $45 million has been called off by the Trump administration, leaving researchers fumbling for options. Microfluidics, the scientific study of the behavior of liquid on a microscopic level, is a recently established field and is hoped to aid in the medical realm as well as the manufacturing of semiconductors, a partially conductive component of many day-to-day electronic devices. The grant's cancellation has been a source of upset for researchers, but OSU is already looking ahead to future opportunities. Anti-ICE protests escalate outside Southwest Portland facility 'While we are disappointed in the notification of the EDA award cancellation for CorMic [Corvallis Microfluidics Tech Hub], we fully intend to participate in the EDA's next Notice of Funding Opportunity and remain well positioned to further national security interests as a global leader in microfluidics for semiconductor manufacturing, ' Tom Weller, Gaulke Professor and Head said. 'Oregon State University will continue to work alongside HP and other partners to further the commercialization of new microfluidics-connected technologies for semiconductor manufacturing, biotechnology, and advanced materials manufacturing.' This is not an isolated incident, with Trump having attempted to cut billions in allocated federal funding to scientific research since the beginning of his current term. White House spokesperson Kush Desai said, 'The Trump administration is spending its first few months reviewing the previous administration's projects, identifying waste, and realigning our research spending to match the American people's priorities and continue our innovative dominance.' Universities are getting hit with the full force of these budget cuts, with biomedical research being classified as 'waste.' Just in February, the National Institutes of Health proposed cutting billions of dollars to OHSU research looking at cancer and heart disease, among other afflictions. These cuts were immediately met with lawsuits from, but not limited to, the Association of American Universities and 22 state attorneys general. These lawsuits are still in progress. The Association of American Universities' lawsuit called the NIH cuts 'flagrantly unlawful' and expressed concern that 'our country will lose its status as the destination for solving the world's biggest health problems.' Scientists of the NIH itself have begun to speak out, publicly disagreeing with the institute's actions, claiming that the cuts 'undermine the NIH mission.' Cuts to scientific research are becoming a recurring source of contention as Trump's second term continues. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
New Tyrannosaur Species Could Be a Missing Link to The Giants
Long before Tyrannosaurus rex stalked the planet, a Dragon Prince reigned supreme. Paleontologists have discovered a new 'missing link' species that cleared the way for the iconic giant carnivores. The new mid-size tyrannosaur, which lived about 86 million years ago, has been named Khankhuuluu mongoliensis – a name that translates to "Dragon Prince of Mongolia" in honor of where it was found. "We wanted to capture that Khankhuuluu was an early and smaller species, so a prince, rather than a king like its much larger tyrannosaur descendants," Darla Zelenitsky, paleontologist at the University of Calgary in Canada, tells ScienceAlert. Together with fellow UCalgary paleontologist Jared Voris, Zelenitsky co-led a study describing the new species based on two partial skeletons that had been gathering dust in a museum collection since the early 1970s. As far as famous 'tyrant lizard' predators go, Khankhuuluu was a middleweight. It stood about 2 meters (6.6 feet) tall at the hips, was twice that long nose-to-tail, and tipped the scales at around 750 kilograms (1,650 pounds). By comparison, T. rex was estimated to grow up to 13 meters long and weigh up to 8.8 tonnes. Of course, evolving to such a massive size didn't happen overnight. It was long presumed that these colossal apex predators evolved from tiny ancestors, like Suskityrannus and Moros intrepidus, which both stood around 1 meter tall. Logically, the road between those two extremes should be paved with middle-sized species. The fossil record has been patchy in that regard, unfortunately. Khankhuuluu, which lived some 20 million years earlier than Tyrannosaurus, helps plug that gap. "Khankhuuluu represents a transitional form from some even smaller 'tyrannosauroid' ancestors to those giant apex predator tyrannosaurs," Voris tells ScienceAlert. "It had long, slender legs, likely making a very agile predator, and its skull was lightly built, not capable of delivering such powerful bone crushing bite forces as its tyrannosaur descendants." Its discovery also implies a complicated history for tyrannosaurs. Khankhuuluu hailed from what is now Asia, far from where its more giant relatives would appear in North America. Over a span of a few million years the family gave rise to a range of massive species like Gorgosaurus and Thanatotheristes before returning across the Bering land bridge. Back in Asia, tyrannosaurs diversified again, this time into two distinct clades: Tyrannosaurini, which were massive apex predators with deep snouts like Tarbosaurus; and Alioramini, which were smaller and had long, narrow snouts like Qianzhousaurus. Eventually, some of the Tyrannosaurini wandered back to North America to try to make it big in Hollywood, leading to household names like Tyrannosaurus rex. Evolution probably would have continued playing this ancient game of Catan if it wasn't for that asteroid flipping the table and losing most of the pieces about 66 million years ago. Signs of this back-and-forth journey are in agreement with other recent studies on tyrannosaur family history. It also helps explain why the closest-known relative of T. rex isn't, say, Daspletosaurus — which stalked the same turf just 10 million years earlier – but is instead Tarbosaurus, a cousin that lived a whole continent away. The study also finds some interesting quirks in how tyrannosaurs in North America and Asia filled different ecological niches. "Both the North America and Asian ecosystems had mid-sized predators that were tyrannosaurs, but this was achieved in different ways," Zelenitsky tells ScienceAlert. "In Asia, there were two very different forms of tyrannosaur species in the same ecosystem. Forms like Tarbosaurus would have filled the giant apex predator role, whereas the alioramins were the smaller, fleet-footed, mid-sized predators." But it turns out that T. rex was such a spotlight-hog that it claimed both niches for itself. "In the last 2 million years of the Cretaceous Period, just before the mass extinction event, Tyrannosaurus was the only tyrannosaur in North America that we know of," says Zelenitsky. "The juveniles were smaller, fleet-footed animals with shallow snouts that would have taken down smaller prey than their adult counterparts. They would have essentially filled the mid-sized predator niche, rather than the apex predator niche of the adults." Of course, none of this would have been possible without the overlooked middle children like Khankhuuluu. We welcome the new prince to the dinosaur royal family, alongside the king (and, if you believe some controversial studies, the queen and the emperor). The research was published in the journal Nature. The World's Largest Organism Is Slowly Being Eaten First Evidence of a Sauropod's Last Meal Shows How They Ate Their Food Videos Show Chimpanzees Using The Forest as Their Drumkit
