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Volcano On Sea Floor Watched Closely By NC Researcher

WUNC | By Phoebe Judge

Published May 6, 2015 at 4:36 PM EDT

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NSF/OOI/University of Washington

Last week a volcano erupted underneath the sea off the coast of Oregon. The Axial Volcano is the most active submarine volcano off the Northwest Coast and for the first time sea instruments gave a heads up the volcano was about to erupt.

Scott Nooner is an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina Wilmington and he has been studying this volcano for 15 years.

The volcano is about a mile below the surface of the water, Nooner said. Along with his colleague from Oregon State University, Bill Chadwick, Nooner watched the surface of the volcano move in response to magma changes observed following the volcano's 2011 eruption.

"We were able to forecast, based on our models, that the volcano would erupt in 2015," said Nooner.

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Phoebe Judge

Phoebe Judge is an award-winning journalist whose work has been featured on a numerous national radio programs. She regularly conducts interviews and anchors WUNC's broadcast of Here & Now. Previously, Phoebe served as producer, reporter and guest host for the nationally distributed public radio program The Story. Earlier in her career, Phoebe reported from the gulf coast of Mississippi. She covered the BP oil spill and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina for Mississippi Public Broadcasting and National Public Radio. Phoebe's work has won multiple Edward R. Murrow and Associated Press awards. Phoebe was born and raised in Chicago and is graduate of Bennington College and the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies.

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