Yellowstone Geysers Become Active Again After Dormant Periods

June 23, 2012 – YELLOWSTONE WATCH - Yellowstone geyser enthusiasts are reporting that a handful of Yellowstone National Park geysers appear to be active again after periods of dormancy, including one geyser that last erupted almost two decades ago. Morning Geyser, quiet for 18 years, is now active, and there is news that an electronic monitor on Echinus in Norris Geyser Basin picked up an eruption. 

North Goggles Geyser has also started erupting more regularly than the lone annual display it has typically shown over the past few years. The last time it was this active was 2004. Joining the list of newly reactivated thermal features are Fan and Mortar geysers, which may be beginning an active cycle. Morning Geyser is one of the tallest and prettiest geysers in the Lower Geyser Basin.  The wide eruptions have the potential of reaching 200 feet tall. It is located in the Fountain Paint Pots area, just behind Fountain Geyser.  

Morning Geyser last erupted in 1994. The first reported eruption this year occurred on Wed., June 20. A second eruption was reported the following day, with geyser gazers reporting online that Morning Geyser spewed for up to 30 minutes, reaching a height of 200 feet. 

For the past few weeks, geyser gazer Maureen Edgerton has watched a change in her favorite geyser, Fountain Geyser, of longer intervals between eruptions than seen in recent years. It may be that there is a connection between Morning Geyser and Fountain Geyser, and a change in Fountain Geyser could result in changes in other thermal features in the area. The announcement of a third geyser reactivating came from an email sent to a geyser email list from Yellowstone National Park ranger Denise Herman, who relayed a message from Jacob B. Lowenstern, the scientist in charge of the U.S. Geological Survey’sYellowstone Volcano Observatory. 

Lowenstern noted that a temperature probe indicated that Echinus erupted at 3:25 a.m. on Mon., June 28, stating that “no one saw it, but it is the first known eruption since January 2011.”  The Extinction Protocol. 

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