YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK — The Yellowstone Volcano Observatory (YVO) is celebrating 25 years of studying the largest magmatic system in the United States.
YVO’s Scientist-in-Charge Michael Poland wrote this week’s Caldera Chronicles, celebrating a quarter-century and telling the story of how YVO came to be. The idea for YVO did not originate in Yellowstone National Park (YNP), but rather at Lassen Volcanic National Park in California in 2000. The Volcano Hazards Program of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Geologic Resources Division of the National Park Service hosted a “Volcanism in National Parks” workshop that was designed to improve scientific input to park managers, as well as advance volcano research and monitoring in parks.
“The workshop included a field trip to Lassen Volcanic National Park and a hike to Bumpass Hell, a hydrothermal area near Lassen Peak with hot springs, fumaroles, and boiling mudpots,” Poland writes. “Sort of a mini-Yellowstone!”
Dr. Robert Smith, a seismologist from the University of Utah who had worked in YNP for decades, was talking with Marianne Guffanti, the coordinator of the USGS Volcano Hazards Program. Smith asked why there was no volcano observatory for Yellowstone — there was a Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, Alaska Volcano Observatory and Cascades Volcano Observatory.
Guffanti, along with two other scientists working in YNP, all agreed that the caldera deserved more attention and that a volcano observatory should be established. The original goals for the observatory would be to: provide stable foundation for long-term monitoring, hazards assessment, and research; communicate the results of this work to responsible authorities and the public; and better coordinate geoscience efforts in the region. Next, they had to determine partnering and monitoring agencies.
“The University of Utah was already doing seismic and ground deformation monitoring in the region,” Poland writes. “Yellowstone National Park had a long history of hydrothermal research and monitoring, and the USGS brought expertise in hazards assessment and geologic mapping. In May 2001, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed by all three agencies, and the YVO consortium was born.”
Two of the scientists present for the original conversation became leaders of the group: Robert Smith with the University of Utah served as coordinating scientist, and USGS Geologist Bob Christiansen became the first scientist-in-charge. Additional agency partners have been added to YVO since its formation, including the University of Wyoming, EarthScope Consortium, Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology, Idaho Geological Survey, Wyoming State Geological Survey, and Montana State University.
“Over the years,” Poland writes, “some of the people have changed, but YVO’s mission of studying Yellowstone’s geologic past, present, and future has remained the same.”
