NOAA watching apparent underwater volcano off West Coast

http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/science/04/05/underwater.volcano/index.html?s=2

April 5, 2001 Web posted at: 6:28 p.m. EDT (2228 GMT)

[fair use]

SILVER SPRING, Maryland (CNN) -- Scientists are monitoring what they say appears to be an underwater eruption in the Pacific Ocean about 100 miles off the coast of Oregon and California.

The event was detected by the Navy's Sound Surveillance System, an underwater network of hydrophone arrays originally installed nearly 50 years ago for use in antisubmarine warfare, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Thursday.

Scientists from the NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Newport, Oregon, hope to sail to the area of the eruption in the next few days to study the phenomenon, NOAA spokeswoman Jana Goldman said.

Underwater volcanic eruptions are among the most common seismic events on Earth, she said, but scientists rarely get a chance to study them while they are happening because they typically occur very deep in the ocean.

"We are hoping that this will be one of those rare times that we get to study what happens to all aspects of the ocean when one of these events take place," said Steven Hammond, an oceanographer at the Newport lab.

NOAA said its data indicates the current eruption has consisted of a number of low-magnitude undersea earthquakes accompanied by an almost continuous band of what scientists call "volcanic tremor." According to NOAA's Web site, the small earthquakes can occur at a rate of up to 100 per hour and continue for weeks.

Because of the event's distance from shore --- about 100 miles --- and its depth--- perhaps 2 miles down --- scientists say there is virtually no danger to humans, Goldman said. "If a tsunami (tidal wave) were in the cards, it would have occurred by now," she told CNN.

One reason scientists are so interested in undersea eruptions is because they often result in the release of large hot water plumes containing large numbers of "extremophiles," microscopic bacteria-like creatures that thrive in very hot and chemical-rich environments such as those found around underwater volcanic vents. Researchers say the organisms have potential biotechnical and pharmaceutical applications.

-- Anonymous, April 05, 2001

Answers

Good catch, SM! I hadn't heard of it until I saw your post, thanks.

-- Anonymous, April 05, 2001