On August 9th, a swarm of earthquakes began being felt by the populace of several islands within American Samoa. These were later attributed to volcanic activity, suggesting that either magma is on the move at depth or a new volcanic eruption is ongoing at the nearby Vailulu'u submarine volcano. Due to this activity, a potential small scale tsunami was generated on August 9th and was witnessed by some residents on the island of Ofu. This video will discuss the ongoing seismic unrest and what might happen next.

Note: The thumbnail shows what a volcanic eruption at this submarine volcano might look like.

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Graphics of eruption dates are courtesy of the Global Volcanism Program, Smithsonian Institute. https://volcano.si.edu/

Google Earth imagery used in this video: ©Google

Thumbnail Photo Credit: NOAA & NSF, Public Domain

Sources:
[1] Smithsonian Institution, Global Volcanism Program, "Vailulu'u", "Ta'u"
[2] F. Aleni & others, "Eruption Styles of Samoan Volcanoes Represented in Tattooing, Language and Cultural Activities of the Indigenous People"
[3] R. Cas & others, "Why Deep-Water Eruptions Are So Different From Subaerial Eruptions"

0:00 American Samoa Earthquake Swarm
0:12 A Possible Tsunami
0:30 Location of Earthquakes
1:35 Geologic Setting
2:00 A Submarine Caldera
3:38 What Might Happen Next