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Yellowstone Supervolcano: The Steamboat Geyser Just Went off AGAIN
Yellowstone Supervolcano: The Steamboat Geyser Just Went off AGAIN
As scientists continue to tell the public not to worry, the largest geyser in Yellowstone has just gone off for the ninth time. Normally, this geyser is quiet for years at a time, but scientists are now saying this is the new normal.
Over the past few months, the Steamboat geyser has sprung to life and now seems to be erupting somewhat on a predictable schedule, at least for the moment. According to Forbes, just after 1 a.m. Monday it sent boiling water hundreds of feet into the air for the ninth time this year. Before this recent string of eruptions, Steamboat had been dormant since 2014. “Major eruptions over the past several weeks have been occurring with surprising regularity (every 6 to 8 days),” wrote Jamie Farrell, Chief Seismologist of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory (YVO).
This news comes as the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii continues to erupt sending lava flows into the ocean and Guatemalan volcano erupted sent pyroclastic flows into a town killing at least 100 people. Are the world’s volcanoes waking up? Not if you ask scientists.
According to Ed Venzke, who manages the database of Smithsonian Institution’s Global Volcanism Program, the concern is understandable. “If it’s not part of people’s daily lives and suddenly it’s in the news, people sort of freak out a bit,” Venzke told Newsweek. But he indicated that there’s no real need to worry about the volcanoes. At any given time, there are almost always at least 20 eruptions unfolding on earth, and so far this year 49 volcanoes have erupted at some point. Venzke said that puts us on track for a pretty standard annual tally compared to recent years.
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Yellowstone Eruption Fears Spike As Largest Geyser Erupts For The 8th Time
Yellowstone Eruption Fears Spike As Largest Geyser Erupts For The 8th Time
Yellowstone caldera eruption fears have spiked as the supervolcano’s largest geyser erupted for the eight time. So far, scientists aren’t certain why the Steamboat geyser continues to erupt, adding to the fears.
After years of silence, Yellowstone’s Steamboat geyser, a better show than Old Faithful, has spewed boiling water hundreds of feet in the air eight times since March. Steamboat, the tallest geyser in the vast Yellowstone National Park, isn’t reliable at all, unlike the more famous Old Faithful that belches steam with regularity. But the fact is, Steamboat has been more faithful, at least lately, spewing eight times since March 14, after being silent for nearly four years. But that regularity is terrifying and puzzling scientists.
Until this recent series of eruptions, the last time Steamboat blew was in September 2014. Steamboat’s latest eruption was Monday morning when the geyser shot boiling hot water hundreds of feet into the air. Steam billowed from the geyser for hours longer. Steamboat is located in the Norris Geyser Basin, known to have the hottest and most changeable thermal area in nearly 3,500-square-mile wilderness park that sits on a volcanic hot spot called a caldera. That accounts for the geyser’s towering columns of steam (it’s very, very hot underground) but leaves a major fear-provoking question unanswered: Why now, and is it a sign the giant volcano is waking up?
Scientists don’t know why the Steamboat geyser has become more active, but they still insist that no major eruption is on the horizon. “It is a spectacular geyser,” Michael Poland, the U.S. Geological Survey’s scientist in charge of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, wrote to CNN in an email. “When it erupts, it generally has very big eruptions.”
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