Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Geyser Cam at Yellowstone National Park


Hat tip to http://geology.com/news for this one: the national park service website for Yellowstone has a webcam view of Old Faithful. It will be adjusted to catch eruptions of Beehive, Lion and Giantess geysers as well. Check it out at http://www.nps.gov/yell/photosmultimedia/yellowstonelive.htm

This takes me back to a very fine field trip we had to Yellowstone in 2006. Wandering about the Old Faithful geyser area, I was snapping photos of Castle Geyser when Beehive started erupting at the same time. Old Faithful is the iconic geyser, but many, many others are every bit as photogenic and far less crowded. Something like 70% of all the geysers in the world are within the boundaries of the park; it's one of those places that should be on every geologist's lifetime list. Despite all the crowding and over-exposure of the place, it is still a wonderous place to visit.

Speaking of webcams in volcanic places, be sure to check out one of my absolute favorite parks in the world: Lava Beds National Monument. They have a webcam showing the tremendous view of the Modoc Plateau from the veranda of the park visitor center at http://www.nps.gov/archive/labe/content/webcam.htm. And don't forget to check out the ongoing eruptions at Mt. St. Helens National Volcanic Monument (http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/volcanocams/msh/), and Hawaii Volcanoes National Park (http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/cam/index.htm).

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