The Oregon State Research Vessel Wecoma will be checking out the 1998 eruptions, early February. A scientific report on seafloor spreading by Embley and Chadwick covers the bases and includes lots of graphics. A big part of PMEL's mission is Tsunami Hazard Detection and Warning . The West Coast is vulnerable. A Virtual Puget Sound gives us a fish-eye view.
Scientists expect the network to be operating in a year or two.
It's a deep submergence support vessel not unlike Woods Hole's Discovery and from the US Navy's Pacific Fleet . Sea rights were extended from 20 miles to 200 miles about 20 years ago. An oceanographic Lewis and Clark expedition was formed to map the territory. Spectacular images of the ocean floor and maps and movies of the Ocean Floor Crust have recently been coming out of places like The National Geophysical Data Center . Here's a QTVR of the Juan de Fuca Ridge .