[Rockhounds] Steam On, Steamboat: The World's Tallest Active Geyser Has Another Record Year

[Kreigh Tomaszewski]

Steamboat Geyser, the tallest active geyser in the world, erupted more
times in 2019 than in any other year, baffling scientists who are trying to
understand what triggered this unusual streak of activity.

The geyser can shoot water more than 300 feet into the air, and this year
it has erupted more than 45 times, surpassing the 32 eruptions recorded in
2018.

In the three years before that, however, the geyser didn't erupt at all.
Unlike Old Faithful
<https://www.yellowstonepark.com/things-to-do/about-old-faithful>, which is
famous for its highly predictable eruptions, Steamboat
<https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/nature/steamboat-geyser.htm> is an erratic
giant.

"In the 1960s, there was another period where there were more than 20
eruptions per year," says Erin White
<https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Erin_White6>, Yellowstone National
Park's hydrologist. "Prior to that, there were dormant periods of more than
50 years."

She has stood right next to Steamboat as it was venting steam. "It is
incredibly powerful," White says. "It's like standing next to a jet engine."

Steamboat's reawakening is an opportunity for researchers to try to answer
some fundamental questions about how geysers work.

https://www.npr.org/2019/12/24/786716739/steam-on-steamboat-the-worlds-tallest-active-geyser-has-another-record-year