While we thought that Yellowstone’s Steamboat Geyser was having a show-stopping performance in 2018 with a record-breaking 32 eruptions, 2019’s eruptions look set to be even more spectacular.
The Steamboat Geyser erupts in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. Image: George Frey/Getty Images
The geyser at Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming has already erupted 25 times this year, according to the US Geological Survey. The world’s tallest active geyser, whose major eruptions shoot water up to 380 feet into the air, erupted seven times last month alone. At one point, there were a mere three days between eruptions. Yellowstone numbers 500 geysers among its approximately 10,000 hydrothermal features, which include hot springs, geysers and mud pots.
A major eruption of Steamboat Geyser in August 2018. Image: George Frey/Getty Images
It has the largest concentration of active geysers in the world, although unlike Old Faithful, which erupts every 90 minutes or so, Steamboat was relatively calm for around 15 years before this latest whirl of activity commenced. Last year, one of the least active geysers, Ear Spring, erupted and spewed out human-generated trash, including a baby pacifier from the 1930s.
Scientists aren’t sure what’s behind the recent eruptions, but Michael Poland, geophysicist at the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory explained to Lonely Planet earlier this year that geysers are very unpredictable by nature. “Yellowstone had two very high-precipitation winters back to back,” he said. “Perhaps the large amount of water that was contributed to the subsurface by this precipitation has allowed the geyser to spout off more? There may also be small changes in the geyser’s plumbing system – things that we would not otherwise be able to detect that are influencing its behaviour, for example, mineral precipitation in the geyser conduit.”
Yellowstone National Park numbers 500 geysers among its approximately 10,000 hydrothermal features. Image by Philippe Sainte-Laudy Photography/Getty Images
The reassuring news is that Steamboat’s frequent eruptions are not the result of deeper changes in Yellowstone’s volcanic system. Geyser plumbing systems are located within a couple of hundred metres of the Earth’s surface, while the volcanic magma system begins several thousand metres below. All that remains to be seen is whether Steamboat will go on to beat its previous record for the rest of the year, or true to its unpredictable mature, will fall asleep again.
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