Steamboat Geyser has erupted once again in Yellowstone National Park, making it the seventh time this year and seemingly increasing the likelihood that this thermal feature is shucking its reclusive nature when it comes to blowing its stack.
The latest eruption came Sunday night, around 7:30 p.m. local time. The eruption lasted 19 minutes, according to the staff at the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory.
If you're keeping track, this year Steamboat erupted on:
* May 27, 2018, at 7:33 p.m. It last erupted seven days, 21 hours, and 27 minutes earlier.
* May 19, 2018, about 9:49 p.m. It last erupted six days, 17 hours, and 57 minutes earlier.
* May 13, 2018, about 3:54 a.m.. It last erupted eight days, four hours, and 36 minutes earlier.
* May 4, 2018, about 11:50 p.m. It last erupted seven days, 16 hours, 45 minutes earlier.
* April 27, 2018, about 6:30 a.m. It last erupted 7 days, 14 hours, 4 minutes earlier.
* April 19, 2018, about 4:30 p.m. It last erupted 35 days, 11 hours, 5 minutes earlier.
* March 15, 2018, about 5:37 a.m. It last erupted three years, 193 days, six hours, 38 minutes earlier.
What should we make about this activity? Perhaps nothing.
As Dr. Michael Poland, the USGS scientist-in-charge of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, told Traveler early this month, "(T)he reason it’s getting attention is because Steamboat is famously known and it doesn’t erupt that often. But it does go through these time periods where it does erupt frequently. It erupted five times in '02 and '03, and it erupted dozens of times between '82 and '84. And it was incredibly active in the '60s. So geysers go through these cycles, some of them anyway, where they’re more active or less active."
For those wondering whether the activity at Kīlauea Volcano at Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park has anything to do with Steamboat's recent activity, the answer is no.
"There is no connection of Kilauea to other volcanoes around the world. Yes, the Ring of Fire is a very active area and Hawaii just so happens to be a hotspot in the middle of this area, but no, it does not have any bearing on other volcanic activity around the world," officials with the Hawaii Volcano Observatory said earlier this month.
Steamboat Geyser, in the Norris Geyser Basin, appears to have entered a phase of more frequent water eruptions, much like it did in the 1960s and early 1980s. Although these eruptions do not have any implications for future volcanic activity at Yellowstone (after all, geysers are supposed to erupt, and most are erratic, like Steamboat), they are nonetheless spectacular, and hopefully many people will have a chance to see Steamboat in eruption during the summer of 2018. -- Yellowstone Volcano Observatory
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Comments
DANG!
I was very privileged to see Steamboat erupt three times back in 1966 and 1967. I'm gonna have to get up there and spend some time sitting on Decker's Island waiting to see it again. It's worth it!