Collaborative Research: Post-eruption reinflation at Axial Seamount

轴向海山是位于东北太平洋胡安德富卡山脊上的一座活跃的海底火山，于1998年和2011年喷发，目前正在膨胀，表明海底下再次有岩浆注入。最近的这一活动为研究海底火山作用、热液喷发和生物反应之间的动态相互作用提供了途径。Axis是世界上第一个也是唯一一个在海底记录到火山变形循环的地点，它很快将拥有运行中的传感器和实时数据传输，作为海洋天文台倡议的一部分。能够根据最近的海底变形预测未来可能的岩浆活动，以及有关岩浆注入的推断，可能有助于指导海洋科学规划。对海底深度变化的持续监测将记录与轴向海山岩浆膨胀/收缩有关的垂直变形。提供连续数据的底部压力记录器和竞选风格的现有基准重新占据相结合，将量化长时间尺度(年)和短时间尺度(分钟-小时)的行为。自1998年以来，已经部分记录了两次喷发，但对喷发前通货膨胀时期的测量并不完整。由于Axial目前正处于2011年爆发后的再通胀阶段，因此存在完全描述周期特征的机会。这项大地测量实地调查将在2015年和2017年进行，学生将参与并提供海底图像，以供在科学球体展览中使用。

Axial Seamount is an active submarine volcano on the Juan de Fuca Ridge in the NE Pacific that erupted in 1998 and 2011, and is currently inflating in a way that suggest renewed magma injection below the seafloor. This recent activity provides access to study the dynamic interactions between seafloor volcanism, hydrothermal venting, and biological responses. Axial is the first and only site in the world where a volcanic deformation cycle has been documented on the seafloor and it will soon have operating sensors and real-time data transmission as part of the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI). Being able to forecast possible future magmatic activity based on recent seafloor deformation, and associated inferences on magma injection, may help guide OOI science planning.Continued monitoring of seafloor depth changes will document vertical deformation associated with magmatic inflation/deflation at Axial Seamount. A combination of Bottom Pressure Recorders, which provide continuous data, and campaign-style reoccupation of existing benchmarks will quantify behavior on timescales both long (years) and short (minutes-hrs). Two eruptions have been partially documented since 1998 but measurements of the pre-eruption inflation period are not complete. Since Axial is in what is interpreted to be the re-inflation stage now, following a 2011 eruption, the opportunity to complete characterization of the cycle exists. This geodetic fieldwork will take place in 2015 and 2017, with student participation and provision of seafloor imagery for use in Science on a Sphere exhibits.