YELLOWSTONE VOLCANO (CAVW #1205-01-)
44°25'48" N 110°40'12" W, Summit Elevation 9203 ft (2805 m)
Current Volcano Alert Level: NORMAL
Current Aviation Color Code: GREEN
During the month of September 2011, 45 earthquakes were located in the Yellowstone National Park region. The largest was a magnitude 2.5 event on September 5 at 12:59 PM MDT, located about 8 miles west northwest of West Yellowstone, MT. No swarms were recorded in September.
Earthquake activity continues at relatively low background levels.
Ground Deformation Summary: A strong seasonal signal, probably related to last winter's extraordinary (~200% of normal) snowfall, is apparent on many of the GPS records in and well outside Yellowstone. This signal complicates interpretation of the GPS data, but detailed analysis indicates that caldera subsidence, which began about 1.5 years ago, likely persists. YVO scientists are working to understand the nature of the unusual signal, and will continue to monitor it carefully.
Please see: http://www.uusatrg.utah.edu/ts_ysrp.html for a map of GPS stations in the Yellowstone vicinity. For a graph of daily GPS positions at White Lake, within the Yellowstone caldera, please see:
http://pboweb.unavco.org/shared/scripts/stations/?checkkey=WLWY&sec;=timeseries_plots×eries;=raw
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The Yellowstone Volcano Observatory (YVO) is a partnership of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Yellowstone National Park, and University of Utah to strengthen the long-term monitoring of volcanic and earthquake unrest in the Yellowstone National Park region. Yellowstone is the site of the largest and most diverse collection of natural thermal features in the world and the first National Park. YVO is one of the five USGS Volcano Observatories that monitor volcanoes within the United States for science and public safety.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Jacob Lowenstern, USGS
Scientist-in-Charge, Yellowstone Volcano Observatory
jlwnstrn@usgs.gov
Robert Smith, University of Utah
Coordinating Scientist, YVO
Henry Heasler, Yellowstone National Park
Coordinating Scientist, YVO
The Yellowstone Volcano Observatory (YVO) was created as a partnership among the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Yellowstone National Park, and University of Utah to strengthen the long-term monitoring of volcanic and earthquake unrest in the Yellowstone National Park region. Yellowstone is the site of the largest and most diverse collection of natural thermal features in the world and the first National Park. YVO is one of the five USGS Volcano Observatories that monitor volcanoes within the United States for science and public safety.
Features
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New Study Reveals Gassy Link to Past Earthquake Swarm
A new collaborative study by USGS and other scientists uses tree growth rings to determine whether geothermal gas output increased after the 1978 earthquake swarm at Yellowstone. By measuring the amount of a specific isotope of carbon (carbon-14) in the rings, the researchers calculated that gas discharge more than doubled at the time of the swarm. The team hopes to use techniques like this to better understand the earthquake record at Yellowstone. The full article is published in Geology.
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New Yellowstone Research from the University of Utah
Scientists from the University of Utah, a YVO partner, recently published two articles in Geophysical Research Letters. The first article, written by Jamie Farrell and colleagues, summarizes research on the Yellowstone Lake swarm of late 2008 and early 2009. The other article, written by Wu-Lung Chang and colleagues, discusses the temporal properties of the accelerated caldera uplift between 2004 and 2010.
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2010 Swarm Summary
Summary of 2010 Madison Plateau Swarm and links to more swarm information
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