Well, for the moment, things seem to have quieted down at Yellowstone. So the swarm may be over. But until a day or two have passed with no real activity to speak of, it could return. Hurry up and wait.

I checked the YS webicorders, and it kind of looks like wind (500 mv).. maybe check the wind speeds in that area? I *did* see the 6.2 blip on them!

Well no such luck. YS at H17A has just cranked up again, registering near 200 microns BHN, and can be seen on the other stations. Here we go again.

Interesting. These are registering strongest at H17A, but SECOND strongest at FLWY, not LKWY, meaning these are originating slightly south somewhere of H17A, between the lake and Teton.

[edit on Thu Oct 15th 2009 by TrueAmerican]

Screenshot of the event from multiple stations near the epicenter:

Originally posted by spinkyboo
It's called paying attention. Thinking. It's what we don't do enough of.

Chances are you could probably go outside right now and find 10 people on your own block that don't even know that Yellowstone presents an issue that could wipe out the species as we know it.

Why do some people feel such an overwhelming need to put down the people who choose to THINK?

Perhaps because THEY don't want to?

Ready to pay attention?

I could say the same as you as you probably don't know of the plethora of other caldera super volcano systems that could potentially 'wipe out the species as we know it'. I'm willing to bet that you do not know about active and ancient super volcano systems that were stronger than some of the Yellowstone eruptions, or nearly matched it in strength.

That's right, Yellowstone isn't the only one.

Do you pay attention over every little quake in the Lake Taupo, or Lake Toba system? Both have produced VEI 8 eruptions in recent history, one only ~26,000 years ago and both released more material than the youngest Yellowstone caldera. What about Whakamaru, about 250,000 years ago?

Or how about quakes around the ancient La Garita Caldera in Colorado? Did you know that Caldera eruption was double the strongest Yellowstone eruption at Island Park?

What about Long Valley, or the Valles Caldera System in New Mexico? Or the Bennet Lake Volcanic Complex? How about the Calderas on Iwo Jima? What about uplift at Campi Flegrei, the most documented in the world?

Heck, lets really scare you and talk about the Lazufre volcanic area in South America. That system has a 45 km wide area of ground deformation that formed over a 3 year period (2003-2006). To put that in perspective, thats an area of about 1100km sql miles being uplifted on AVERAGE 3cm per year -- or comparable to the size of Yellowstone and Long Valley. Someplace's had 50cm uplift.

I don't see ANY threads here about those systems, but Yellowstone has a handful 1.5 earthquakes and it's the end of the world, the sky is falling, and a monster eruption will take place next week.

And yet you sit there and tell me that I don't want to "think", when in reality you're the one that can't see the forest from the tree's.

Hiccups in an active caldera system is not the portent for a major eruption. Even the 7.5quake of 1959 caused an uplift of almost 12 feet along the Hebgen fault -- with no eruption. Nor did the 1983 Borah Peak quake in Idaho.

Not every hiccup the caldera makes portend to a major eruption. Over 30 recent lava flows have occurred within the caldera and around it since the last caldera forming eruption. In fact, the 'hills' behind Old Faithful and the upper geyser basin are one such flow. Thousands of other hydrothermal explosions have taken place as well -- some knocking out sections as big as heart lake with no eruption. Nor the 80 some odd volcanic eruptions there that have taken place have caused caldera forming eruptions either.

If you want to panic and lose sleep over every little quake in Yellowstone, be my guest. Play to your own ignorance that Yellowstone can only produce extinction level events. Oh and please, by all means ignore the rest of the caldera systems in the world, some just as dangerous, some more so, others less.

Oh I know why.. it's not sensational enough. Basalt flows or smaller volcanic eruptions just aren't newsworthy even though they are the most likely to happen in the caldera. Just like the Lassen Peak swarm a few months back had NO notice here, nor did the Crater Lake swarm.

As far as the other calderas, mention any of them I mentioned and get a blank stare even on this forum, but Yellowstone -- OMG DISCOVERY CHANNEL SAYS ITS GOING TO BLOW! PANIC!

I'll keep my own thinking cap on -- thanks.

And since I just completed a curmudgeon post, I'll be productive and add something to the discussion before data is misinterpreted.

Some data from YFT_SHZ_WY (Old faithful) webicorder for 10/14/09 should be met with subjective scrutiny.

Namely anything that appears 'harmonic' on that webicorder yesterday. Giantess Geyser erupted at approximately 4:10am MDT, registering it's own continued quake and continuing periodically throughout the day. These eruptions are always picked up by the seismograph at old faithful due to steam bubbles forming and collapsing at depth.

For those that do not know, Giantess is an infrequent geyser, erupting on average 2-3 times a year. Varations of this can take place, as in 1983 it had erupted 42 times prior to the Borah Peak earthquake. It also erupts 1-48 hours, with some exceptions as the Hebgen Lake quake caused an eruption over 100 hours.

It is a fountain type geyser, with eruptions being massive bursts of water. These bursts can reach 50ft to over 200ft. The eruption ended sometime last night past dusk and before the morning hours according to the seismograph.