Is A Yellowstone Eruption Closer Than Thought?

Above, a Yellowstone mudpot. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Yellowstone National Park is a super-volcano. Its features are the result of volcanic activity.

Scientists are studying the park's geology. Some are wondering whether or not an eruption of the super-volcano is closer than we thought.

This is the subject of an article in the Wyoming Tribune Eagle.

They begin it with:

POWELL — In the same way digital photography has evolved from 3 megapixel state-of-the-art professional DSLR cameras in the late 90s to folks now carrying 15 megapixel cameras in their cellphones, scientists are enjoying the benefits from vastly improved imaging, a leading expert studying the Yellowstone Volcano reports.

A team of researchers from the University of Utah, New Mexico University and the Institute of Earth Sciences in Taiwan in 2020 deployed 650 temporary seismometers in Yellowstone to measure seismic wave speeds in the subsurface of the caldera’s magma chamber.

The massive deployment resulted in the best picture of the magma chamber ever seen and has led to interesting findings. Important — though rarely discussed around work-place water coolers outside of those intended for scientists — the deployment provided a view at how magma waves behave; specifically if horizontally oriented waves of magma are faster or slower than vertically oriented ones.

To read more, go here.

Yellowstone Misinformation Called "Hogwash"

Above, a geothermal hot spring in Yellowstone National Park. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

There's a lot of scammers out there. For the past ten hours, I have been dealing with counterfeit "silver" coins that I purchased. 

Scams now come in all shapes and sizes.

There's a story about Yellowstone National Park with misinformation being bandied about the park being closed due to an alleged "imminent eruption" of the park's caldera. It is totally bogus.

Oregon Live posted:

Did you hear that Yellowstone National Park is closed? Well, it’s not.

At this point, any time we start a story with ‘did you hear...’ it’s a pretty safe bet that the thing you heard is online misinformation. That’s definitely the case with this one.

It’s true that Yellowstone did close areas last summer due to historic floods in the park. But the current claim circulating online -- that park officials have “closed down the park” due to a rising “volcanic uplift” -- has nothing to do with the very real floods back in June. Also, it isn’t true on any of the facts -- the park remains open, and there are no current signs of any “uplift.”

Claims about an imminent eruption of Yellowstone’s supervolcano pop up online pretty regularly -- and it’s easy to understand why. The Yellowstone caldera has erupted in the distant past, with global consequences, and modern scientists do monitor it for signs of volcanic activity.

That does not, however, mean an eruption is expected any time soon.

It seems that some people have nothing better to do than to spread misinformation and scam people.

To read more, go here.