The U.S. Geological Survey said Steamboat Geyser in Yellowstone National Park has experienced its third water eruption in the last six weeks.
The USGS said Steamboat began erupting about 6:30 a.m. Sunday. It was still going strong at 5:30 p.m. Sunday. The geyser sent a huge steam plume into the air with water shooting 50 to 60 feet high.
This isn’t a major eruption for Steamboat. As the largest currently active geyser in the world, a major eruption can send water up to 300 feet into the air.
The USGS said this is the fifth eruption of Steamboat this spring and may signify a period of greater activity. This has happened before, in the 1960’s and again in the early 1980’s.
But scientists say they don’t think these Steamboat eruptions means Yellowstone, in general, is about to enter an active volcanic phase.
Steamboat is highly variable, sometimes going years between eruptions and at one point didn’t erupt for 50 years.
