Yellowstone: No August Eruption for World's Tallest Active Geyser 'Steamboat'

The world's tallest active geyser, Steamboat Geyser, in Yellowstone National Park, appears to be slowing down; there were no eruptions during August and only eight throughout the entire year 2022.

Huge eruptions from the Steamboat Geyser shoot water out over 300 feet into the air. In Yellowstone, there are more than 500 geysers in total.

Yellowstone Geysers

Anywhere there is water, heat, and a natural plumbing system created by cracks in underground rock, geysers have the potential to form. Water from snow and rain eventually interacts with molten rock underground as it travels through the earth. As a result, the water becomes warmer and returns to the surface.

A geyser forms when the superheated water bursts through the ground and turns to steam due to the low pressure.

Dormant to Sporadic Eruptions

Because Yellowstone is perched atop a supervolcano, which generates heat, the national park has an abundance of geysers.

Eruptions in Steamboat geyser are unpredictable. After the 1959 Hebgen Lake Earthquake, the geyser was dormant for 50 years until the early 1960s. The eruptions in Steamboat have been irregular ever since.

The geyser typically experiences a few times of frequent eruptions, which are then followed by several years of dormancy during which nothing happens.

The Steamboat Geyser was dormant for about three and a half years, from September 2014 to March 2018, with no eruptions.

From June 2018 through June 2022, the geyser was active and would occasionally erupt multiple times per month, shooting jets of hot water hundreds of feet into the air. It even broke its record for the most eruptions in a calendar year in 2019 by erupting 48 times. 32 eruptions were the previous record, which was set in 2018.

However, this period of activity abruptly ended on June 20.

Two Months and Counting

According to a monthly update published on September 1 by the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, the Steamboat Geyser has had no eruptions for over two months.

The Yellowstone Volcano Observatory's research geophysicist, Michael Poland, stated that it appears as though there is a decline in Steamboat's activity. Poland is also designated as Scientist-in-Charge.

Poland reported that there have been 32 eruptions in 2018, 48 in each 2019 and 2020, "just" 20 in 2021, and "only" eight so far in 2022. Poland explains that he used the quotes because those numbers would be fantastic in any other year. However, for the past few years, the geyser has been putting on a good show that has spoiled many fans.

Poland claimed that the geyser might still be able to erupt for at least one more time this year, but the overall pattern of eruptions appears to be trending downward.

Poland claims that the geyser is experiencing a lot of minor activity, which usually precedes a major eruption. Since the last cycle of frequent eruptions, there has been more than a month of minor activity.

Poland added that regardless of whether Steamboat has another significant eruption, the level of activity does seem to be declining. But over the past few years, the geyser put on a spectacular show, Newsweek reports.