Scientists believe that an underwater volcano has erupted off the coast of Oregon and Washington. The researchers have noted a dramatic uptick in seismic activity recent weeks with the most dramatic shifts happening about a week ago.

For five months the Axial Seamount has experienced hundreds of small earthquakes on a daily basis. On April 24 the region exploded, producing 8,000 quakes in a single day. The seafloor dropped almost six fit and water temperatures increased.

During a public lecture in September of 2014, Geologist Bill Chadwick of Oregon State University and Scott Norris of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington predicted an eruption for the area in 2015.

The pair had conducted previous research which showed that the Axial Seamount volcano erupts on a regular, predictable basis as magma is fed into it; essentially inflating like a balloon until it reaches a critical point and then deflating agin.

“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. There are some hints that lava did erupt, but we may not know for sure until we can get out there with a ship,” said Chadwick, who works out of Oregon State University’s Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport.

The researchers are hopeful that they will find signs of eruption, because it would confirm their prediction hypothesis and report that the small eruption should pose no real threat to coastal residents as it is not large enough to produce a tsunami.

“I have to say, I was having doubts about the forecast even the night before the activity started. We didn’t have any real certainty that it would take place – it was more of a way to test our hypothesis that the pattern we have seen was repeatable and predictable,” said Chadwick

Because of its proximity to the coast and its structure the researchers state that Axial Seamount provides an ideal geological laboratory.

“Because Axial is on very thin ocean crust, its ‘plumbing system’ is simpler than at most volcanoes on land that are often complicated by other factors related to having a thicker cru