Volcano Monitoring

Answers to questions about monitoring at Yellowstone.

The Yellowstone region is one of the most seismically active areas in the United States. It experiences an average of around 1,500 to 2,500 located earthquakes per year! The majority of these earthquakes are too small to be felt by humans but are detected by a sophisticated network of about 50 seismometers called the Yellowstone Seismic Network (YSN).

Movement of the ground in Yellowstone can tell scientists a lot about what’s happening below the surface. In order to monitor subtle “deformation” of the ground, YVO relies most heavily on Global Positioning System (GPS) stations, strainmeters, and tiltmeters, with instruments that are maintained by UNAVCO.

In 2003, activity in the Norris Geyser Basin increased and scientists logged higher ground temperatures and witnessed a greater number of geyser eruptions. In order to better understand the hydrothermal system at Yellowstone, a temporary network of monitoring equipment was installed, which was eventually followed by the installation of a more robust network.

This geyser is located at the eastern edge of Norris’ Back Basin. It rarely has major eruptions, but when they occur they are powerful. In these events, columns of hot water reach heights up to 100 meters followed by a raucous steam phase that can last for over a day, loudly discharging steam nearly 200 meters into the atmosphere.

Echinus geyser exhibits irregular behavior, sometimes erupting regularly for months, and then ceasing altogether.

This oft-active geyser is located close to the boardwalk in Porcelain Basin.

Measurements of the water flowing through Yellowstone National Park help scientists to understand the hydrologic cycle within the park and provide data about how much heat is being released from the volcanic system.

Hot spring located at the northwest end of Porcelain Terrace.

Yellowstone was established as the world’s first national park primarily because of its extraordinary geysers, hot springs, mudpots and steam vents, as well as other geologic features. YVO scientists monitor these hydrothermal features as part of an effort to research and preserve them.

This pool is located at the southwest end of Norris’ Back Basin.

The thermal areas of Yellowstone discharge a lot of gas through geysers, mud pots, hot pools, and fumaroles. The chemical makeup of these gases provides USGS scientists clues to what is happening in the hydrothermal and volcanic systems beneath the surface.