Yellowstone Is Pulsating

Lets be clear, right upfront, the new research into what we are seeing does not indicate that the supervolcano is about to pop any day now. There are a few news sites that are hyping that angle of the story.

The magma under Yellowstone seems to be pulsating and moving - that is not unusual. These movements may help explain why Steamboat Geyser has been erupting at record pace for several years.

An area larger than Chicago, centered near the basin, has been rising and falling for more than a decade. A recent study in the Journal of Geophysical Research shows we might now know why the Earth seems to be "breathing" in this area.

“We’re only just beginning to understand just how dynamic [Norris Geyser Basin] is,” says Michael Poland, the scientist-in-charge at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Yellowstone Volcano Observatory who wasn’t involved in the new research.

So part of what scientists are seeing in this area is a shift in the magma under the park.

That last eruption was more than 640,000 years ago.

In other statements of the past few years, scientists have assured us that there are no signs of the volcano getting ready to explode with the massive heave-ho that we are always hearing about. But they are still watching, and learning.