Precision Seismic Monitoring and Analysis at Axial Seamount Using a Real-Time Double-Difference System

Seven three-component ocean bottom seismometers (OBS) of the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) Cabled Array on top of Axial Seamount are continuously streaming data in real time to the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS). The OBS array records earthquakes from the submarine volcano which last erupted on 24 April 2015, about 4 months after the array came online. The OBS data have proven crucial in providing insight into the volcano structure and dynamics (Wilcock et al., 2016, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aah5563). We implemented a real-time double-difference (RT-DD) monitoring system that automatically computes high-precision (tens of meters) locations of new earthquakes. The system's underlying double-difference base catalog includes nearly 100,000 earthquakes and was computed using kurtosis phase onset picks, cross-correlation phase delay times, and 3-D P and S velocity models to predict the data. The relocations reveal the fine-scale structures of long-lived, narrow (<200 m wide), outward dipping, convex faults on the east and west walls of the caldera that appear to form a figure 8-shaped ring fault system. These faults accommodate stresses caused by the inflation of magma prior to and deflation during eruptions. The east fault is segmented and pulled apart in east-west direction due to its interaction with the Juan de Fuca Ridge, which at this location forms an overlapping spreading center. The RT-DD system enables the monitoring and rapid analysis of variations in fine-scale seismic and fault properties and has the potential to improve prediction of timing and location of the next Axial eruption expected to occur in the 2022–2023 time frame.

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