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Scientists working alongside the U.S. Coast Guard have discovered a 1,640 - foot - marvelous ( 500 metre ) structure that looks like an subaqueous volcano off the sea-coast of Alaska .
The anatomical structure may be spewing gas , based on data collected from the water above it , but the scientists still are n’t certain . Whether the anatomical structure turns out to be avolcanoor not , it is 5,250 feet ( 1,600 m ) deep at its shallowest percentage point , meaning it amaze no jeopardy to sailing , according to astatement .
Visualization of a volcano-like feature discovered by science teams aboard the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy.
Researchers obtain the antecedently obscure structure during a three - part missionary station aboard the U.S. Coast Guard ’s icebreaker " Healy " to map the sea floor in the Chukchi and Beaufort ocean .
" Although analysis is on-going , these determination are exciting and offer perceptiveness into what may be beneath the ocean ’s surface , much of which is strange in this region,“Meghan McGovern , the commanding ship’s officer of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ’s ( NOAA ) " Fairweather " ship who took part in the foreign mission , said in the assertion .
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U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy crewmembers retrieve a measuring instrument from the Chukchi Sea on Oct. 30, 2024.
Scientists let out the structure during the first leg of Healy ’s ongoing mission , which is investigating a portion of the Alaskan Arctic Coast Port Access Route Study ( Arctic PARS ) expanse along the Second Earl of Guilford glide of Alaska . Arctic PARS is assessing the potential for new merchant marine route along theentire U.S. Arctic slide , from Cape Prince of Wales on Alaska ’s Seward Peninsula to the U.S. border with Canada near Gordon , Alaska .
The 2d and third leg of the mission will invite early career scientist to conduct various kinds of sea - based inquiry , including mapping the seabed and sample water system to fill gaps in experts ' apprehension of these distant arena .
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The Healy ’s datasets wo n’t be issue for a few more weeks , and there is currently little to no selective information useable about the raw structure to sop up close from , saidTim Orr , a volcanologist and research geologist at the Alaska Volcano Observatory who was not involve in the breakthrough .
" While we are waiting for the data release , our current understanding of the worldwide country where this feature was found is that youthful volcanoes are not probable in that locating , " Orr tell apart Live Science in an e-mail . It ’s possible that the natural gas detected above the structure was related to processes other than volcanism , such as a deeply - buried hydrocarbon reservoir , Orr said .
" There are submarine volcanoes in Alaska , like the emergent volcano Bogoslof , but those are place in areas of know volcanism , unlike the feature of speech reported by the Healy , " he added .
