![White, filamentous bacteria thrive in the warm fluids seeping from pockets in the 3-month-old lava flow. White “snowblowers” drift through the water. Orange bacterial mats cover vast areas of the still cooling lava flow.](https://environment.uw.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/white_filamentous_material-375x250.jpg)
This spring, seafloor seismometers connected to shore by a new Internet cable showed that the 3,600-foot-tall underwater Axial Volcano started shaking April 24, 2015 and shook continuously for several days. University of Washington oceanographers visited the deep-ocean volcano in late July and parts of the seafloor were still warm, giving the team a glimpse into the changes that happened around the the mile-deep volcano 300 miles off the Oregon coast. The recent visit, part of a larger cruise, was scientists’ first chance to see the site and explore what happened.
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