An undersea volcano off Oregon’s coast will probably erupt in 2025, scientists say.
The volcano, known as Axial, is a seamount 300 miles (480 kilometers) west of Cannon Beach, Oregon. The Axial seamount erupts regularly — it rumbled to life in 1998, 2011 and 2015, according to a blog by scientists monitoring the seamount — and it doesn’t pose a threat to people. But because of the seamount’s regular activity and its relative proximity to land, researchers made it the site of the world’s first underwater volcano observatory, known as the New Millennium Observatory .
Now, the monitors at Axial are showing that the surface of the seamount is inflating — a sign of moving magma that likely presages an eruption, William Chadwick , a geologist at Oregon State University who studies the volcano and its nearby hydrothermal vents, reported at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in December 2024. The volcano’s surface has now risen to 95% of what it was before the 2015 eruption, Chadwick reported.