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Abstract Axial Seamount in the northeast Pacific erupted in 2015, 2011, and 1998. Although monitored by the Regional Cabled Array of the Ocean Observatory Initiative, few magnetic surveys have been conducted over the region. This study uses high‐resolution magnetic data over the seamount collected by autonomous underwater vehicleSentryduring three years (2015, 2017, and 2020). The goal is to investigate whether there are temporal changes in the near‐surface magnetic field observable over the time scale of one volcanic cycle. We compare magnetic maps from repeated tracklines from each year. We find maps of the yearly difference in magnetization show coherent patterns that are not random. The central region of the caldera has become more magnetic during recent years, suggesting cooling of the surficial lava flows since 2015.Sentrydata are more sensitive to shallow crustal structure compared to sea surface data which show longer wavelength anomalies extending deeper into the crust. 

Abstract Monitoring of active volcanic systems is a challenging task due in part to the trade‐offs between collection of high‐quality data from multiple techniques and the high costs of acquiring such data. Here we show that magnetic data can be used to monitor volcanoes by producing similar data to gravimetric techniques at significantly lower cost. The premise of this technique is that magma and wall rock above the Curie temperature are magnetically “transparent,” but not stationary within the crust. Subsurface movements of magma can affect the crustal magnetic field measured at the surface. We construct highly simplified magnetic models of four volcanic systems: Mount Saint Helens (1980), Axial Seamount (2015–2020), Kīlauea (2018), and Bárðarbunga (2014). In all cases, observed or inferred changes to the magmatic system would have been detectable by modern magnetometers. Magnetic monitoring could become common practice at many volcanoes, particularly in developing nations with high volcanic risk. 

Abstract Magnetic anomaly variations near mid‐ocean ridge spreading centers are sensitive to a variety of crustal accretionary processes as well as geomagnetic field variations when the crust forms. We collected near‐bottom vector magnetic anomaly data during a series of 21 autonomous underwater vehicleSentrydives near 9°50′N on the East Pacific Rise (EPR) covering ∼26 km along‐axis. These data document the 2–3 km wide axial anomaly high that is commonly observed at fast‐spreading ridges but also reveal the presence of a superimposed ∼800 m full wavelength anomaly low. The anomaly low is continuous for ≥13 km along axis and may extend over the entire survey region. A more detailed survey of hydrothermal vents near 9°50.3′N reveals ∼100 m diameter magnetic lows, which are misaligned relative to active vents and therefore cannot explain the continuous axial low. The axial magnetization low persists in magnetic inversions with variable extrusive source thickness, indicating that to the extent to which layer 2A constitutes the sole magnetic source, variations in its thickness alone cannot account for the axial low. Lava accumulation models illustrate that high geomagnetic intensity over the past ∼2.5 kyr, and decreasing intensity over the past ∼900 years, are both consistent with the broad axial anomaly high and the superimposed shorter wavelength low. The continuity of this axial low, and similar features elsewhere on the EPR suggests, that either crustal accretionary processes responsible for this anomaly are common among fast‐spread ridges, or that the observed magnetization low may partially reflect global geomagnetic intensity fluctuations.