U.S. STEAMBOAT GEYSER
at
YELLOWSTONE PARK
SUMMARY:
National Park Service
records go back to 1878.
Yellowstone's Steamboat
Geyser set an eruption
record in 2018
( 32 eruptions ).
And then set another
eruption record
in 2019
( 48 eruptions ) !
The last big year
was back in 1964
-- 56 years ago --
( 29 eruptions ).
The world’s tallest
currently active geyser
has been really active
in the past two years.
Note:
This geyser
has had years
without erupting
at all.
Data source:
USGS Yellowstone
Volcano Observatory.
DETAILS:
A geyser is a vent
through which hot water
and steam from below
the Earth’s surface
can erupt.
Geysers are
extremely rare,
and only occur
when many
conditions
are met.
There are
only about
1,000 geysers
in the world.
A geyser forms if water
accumulates underground
in the proximity of magma,
is heated up quickly and
ejected onto the surface
as steam.
Michael Poland,
the scientist
in charge of
the Yellowstone
Volcano Observatory,
said the irregularity
of Steamboat is just
“a geyser being a geyser.”
Poland added:
"Steamboat
clearly has
a mind of its own,
and right now
it’s putting its
independence
on display.”
R. Greg Vaughan,
a research scientist
with USGS, wrote:
“Yellowstone’s thermal
areas are the surface
expression of the
deeper magmatic
system, and they
are always changing.”