00:50 Axial Seamount Underwater Volcano Spewing Lava off Oregon Coast Check out this video of an underwater volcano. Matt Sampson explains what's behind the recent deep sea activity.

Three hundred miles off the Oregon Coast, a deep sea giant has re-awakened.

Last September, researchers with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicted that Axial Seamount, a large underwater volcano, would erupt before 2016 .

<img class="styles__noscript__2rw2y" src="https://dsx.weather.com//util/image/w/axial-prim_0.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273&api=7db9fe61-7414-47b5-9871-e17d87b8b6a0" srcset="https://dsx.weather.com//util/image/w/axial-prim_0.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273&api=7db9fe61-7414-47b5-9871-e17d87b8b6a0 400w, https://dsx.weather.com//util/image/w/axial-prim_0.jpg?v=ap&w=980&h=551&api=7db9fe61-7414-47b5-9871-e17d87b8b6a0 800w" > 3D image of Axial Seamount. (NOAA) (NOAA) Jump ahead a few months to the end of April, and data taken from readings of the volcano shows that prediction was most likely correct.

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Axial Seamount, which is the most active submarine volcano in its sector of the northeast Pacific , previously erupted in 2011 and 1998, each time spewing waves of magma from its summit about a mile below the surface.

Using 3D imaging and temperature data from the seamount, NOAA scientist Chadwick and his team determined that the volcano was 'inflating' and 'deflating' -- a phemonenon that occurs as magma passes through the seamount. Thousands of minor earthquakes in the area and increases in seafloor temperatures all point toward an eruption event, but it's impossible to be completely sure without a first-hand look.

"It isn't clear yet whether the earthquakes and deflation at Axial are related to a full-blown eruption, or if it is only a large intrusion of magma that hasn't quite reached the surface," Chadwick, who's one of the scientists who predicted the activity , told Science Daily. "There are some hints that lava did erupt, but we may not know for sure until we can get out there with a ship."

Whether or not there was a large-scale eruption or minor leakage, residents on the coast shouldn't be concerned. The researchers say the activity off the coast is too minor to cause damage.

NOAA plans on sending teams as early as May to survey the site.

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