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The robust
magma supply at Axial Volcano coupled with evidence of extensive hydrothermal
venting and young lavas in its summit caldera encouraged the NOAA Vents
Program to begin studying this portion of the Juan de Fuca Ridge in
the early 1980s. The NeMO program officially began in 1996 when monitoring
activity was increased with the placement of additional instruments in
the caldera. These included strings of recorders to measure water column
temperature and arrays of instruments to measure vertical and horizontal
ground movements that would be expected during major volcanic events.
All of these instruments were in place when Axial Volcano erupted in January
1998.
During
the 1998 eruption lava poured from fissures along 9 km of the upper south
rift zone. One of the monitoring instruments on the seafloor (the "rumbleometer")
was partly overrun and trapped by the flowing lava. Vent areas seen by
towed camera and remote vehicles in 1996-97 in the Marker
33 area were completely covered by this lava. However, new vents emerged
through the new lava flow, spewing forth microbial "snowstorms",
such as at "the Pit" site. A diverse
and expanding host of life forms began to quickly colonize the new vents
on the fresh lava surface. High-temperature vent sites in the surrounding
area, such as ASHES, CASM,
and Castle, were rejuvenated.
In the
summer of 1998, NOAA launched the first of an ongoing series of oceanographic
research cruises to the area to explore the eruption site. This multi-year
effort to monitor the evolution of the volcanic, geochemical, and biological
systems in the eruption area is named the New
Millenium Observatory (NeMO). The NeMO also includes a real-time communication
system called NeMO Net that allows
scientists in the lab to interact with instruments on the seafloor. This
is a breakthrough in ocean engineering which utilizes an acoustic modem
to relay data from seafloor instruments up to a moored sea-surface buoy,
which in turn sends the data to NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Lab
via satellite. Annual visits to Axial Volcano send back daily
updates from sea, allowing anyone to follow the progress of NeMO scientists
from the NeMO web site. Curriculum
for middle- and high-school teachers has also been developed based on
NeMO research results.
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