Did this New Thermal Feature Erupt?

“Huh. Did it look that way when I was here in June? That’s an upside down bacteria mat. Did it erupt? Heavily overflow? Something happened.”

Those were the thoughts that ran through my mind during a brief stop at Biscuit Basin in July.

I snapped a photo:

New Thermal Feature in Biscuit Basin 9 July 2012

Once at home, I opened up the photos taken in June to compare…

New Thermal Feature in Biscuit Basin 18 June 2012

Yes, a couple of significant changes:

• 1. the vent has no microbes in the center and was sending up occasional lazy bubbles.
• 2. the large chunk of the bacteria/microbe mat looked like a badly flipped pancake or omelet.

But there’s no large change in the overall area it covers. Something, though, to keep an eye on. Can you help?

In July I also took some ‘location’ photos to help remember where it was and what else was around it.

Here’s one looking ‘toward Old Faithful’ from the boardwalk next to the new thermal feature.

A new hot spring at Biscuit Basin on 18 June 2012

And one showing how close it is to the boardwalk.

Location shot for new hot spring at Biscuit Basin – taken 18 June 2012

One more to show what lies across the boardwalk from it.

What lies directly across the boardwalk from the new spring. Photo taken 18 June 2012

Additional Location photo/screenshot from 6 Aug 2012 – arrow added in. To see the current photo from this webcam (as long as it stays in this location – they do move it now and again), click here.

Screenshot taken from the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory Mobile Webcam

Geyser Watch

One of the many aspects of this website is to provide a way to help multiple people watch a particular area or to help each other with the ‘data points’ they want to track. This one small thermal feature is an example.

I’d like to be able to watch this spot on a weekly basis, but I’m not in Yellowstone that often (yet), so here’s the information in case you see this small feature do something. And, if you’re already keeping track of this one – it may have been one of those steaming holes before becoming what it is now and I just never noticed it before – well, here’s some more information.

Are you watching a particular thermal feature?