Why Steamboat Geyser is erupting
After lying quiet for nearly four years, the Steamboat Geyser in Yellowstone National Park is roaring back to life. The first of 10 eruptions so far took place on March 15. The latest occurred just last Friday. This seemingly rare occurrence is actually pretty normal for the geyser.
“Steamboat is basically an enigmatic geyser,” said Jeff Hungerford, a geologist with Yellowstone National Park. “And it tends to go off every, you know, a couple times every few years or so and then have these periods of heightened activity where we may get 20 eruptions during a year or so.”
The eruptions have many wondering if the super volcano lying beneath Yellowstone is ready to blow. Scientists say, we won’t see that happen in our lifetime.
“If we were actually to see some kind of erupted activity here in Yellowstone, which is very very improbable, we would see increased seismicity,” Hungerford said. “We would see deformation or ground swelling that’s indicative. We’d also see gas emissions that are more indicative of an eruption.”
The eruptions have increased the crowds around Steamboat. Some even camp out around the geyser all day, hoping for a chance to see the world’s tallest geyser erupt. Steamboat’s eruption goes about 200 feet higher than the park’s most famous geyser, Old Faithful.
“It’s a once in-a-lifetime eruption,” said Wanda and Rick Likens, who are waiting at the geyser for it to erupt. “You know, this is probably the best geyser so probably our best shot at getting to see it.”
Scientists can’t predict exactly when Steamboat will go off, but they can get a good idea by watching other geysers and pools in the area. Lately, it has been going off about every four to seven days. That means, it could go off again any day now.
“When we have activity like this it’s fantastic,” Hungerford said. “It’s the world’s largest geyser eruption. It’s pretty amazing. It’s overwhelmingly large. And it’s just fantastic nature of that roar after the eruption is pretty breathtaking.”
Geologists say Steamboat was active like this in the early ’60s and ’80s. It most recently went off in September 2014.
