New app predicts geyser eruptions in Yellowstone

The first time Alan Glennon saw the geysers of Yellowstone National Park in 1994 he wasn’t that impressed. It wasn’t until he picked up The Geysers of Yellowstone, by Scott Bryan, in a park gift shop and learned how geysers work and how rare they are, that he became fascinated.

Today Glennon is a “geyser gazer” who regularly visits Yellowstone to watch and voluntarily document geyser eruptions. Glennon, who lives in California, attributes his love of geysers and Yellowstone to simply learning more about thermal features. The more he knows the more he loves the park.

A new app by Yellowstone National Park could ignite the same fascination Glennon feels in thousands of other visitors, by putting geyser information at their fingertips. The free app provides prediction times, photos and facts for six geysers: Old Faithful, Grand, Castle, Daisy, Great Fountain, and Riverside. It also allows you to watch Old Faithful and the Upper Geyser Basin area via webcam streaming.

About 10,000 people a day visit Old Faithful and the visitor’s center in the summer, and the area is packed, said Katy Duffy, an interpretive planner with the park. She was an advisor in developing the app, working with Brett Oppegaard from Washington State University in Vancouver and the University of Hawaii.

A new app from Yellowstone provides data on when the next eruptions are likely to occur of predictable geysers like Old Faithful. — NPS — Nearly half of the world’s geysers are located in Yellowstone National Park. (Courtesy National Park Service — click to enlarge)

Rangers post estimated times online for geyser eruptions, but the format isn’t as easily accessible as an app on a cell phone. Visitors typically arrive at Old Faithful with cell phones out and ready to take pictures. They watch the eruption and leave, never knowing why geysers exist or what else they can see in the area. The prediction times are the hook, but the app teaches about Yellowstone’s geology and basic geyser science. The more people know, they more they feel a connection to the park, Duffy said.

“Thermal features are a window into the earth,” Duffy said. “They tell us what’s going on beneath our feet. I always saw it as an incredible privilege to see Old Faithful or any other geyser erupt.”

The app is also meant to help people see geysers other than Old Faithful. If a visitor knows when Grand geyser might erupt and he learns it’s the tallest and most predictable geyser in the world, he’s more likely to visit the geyser.

“The app’s meant to get people to be curious and know more about what’s going on and to marvel at it,” Duffy said. “It’s their national park and there’s more to it than Old Faithful.”

A new app created by Yellowstone National Park not only tells you when the next eruption of Old Faithful and other predictable geysers is likely to occur, but also provides information on the geology that allows geysers to form. There's also a webcam so you can watch the geysers from afar (photo by: Diane Renkin - click to enlarge) — A new app created by Yellowstone National Park not only tells you when to expect the next eruption of Old Faithful and other predictable geysers, but also provides information on the geology that allows geysers to form. There’s also live-streaming of geysers. (Courtesy Diane Renkin — click to enlarge)

In fact, Yellowstone is home to about half of the world’s geysers. But only a few are predictable within an hour’s time. The geysers featured on the app are all easily viewable and have relatively small windows for eruption times. Old Faithful, for example, erupts about every 90 minutes, plus or minus 10 minutes. Grand Geyser has a plus or minus of about an hour for its eruptions.

The prediction times on the app use current information logged by rangers. That means when the visitor’s center is closed there are not updated predictions. From December through March rangers will update the data for the app as often possible, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., but there won’t always be predictions for all six geysers.

Glennon, a self-described “super nerd” when it comes to geysers in Yellowstone, doesn’t need the app, but he’s looked at it and thinks it’s enough of an introduction to geysers to get people excited and more interested in Yellowstone’s thermal features.

He often sees visitors waiting at a geyser and, not knowing when it might erupt, move on not realizing what they will miss.

“The app unlocks a part of Yellowstone that just hasn’t been as accessible as before,” Glennon said.

— “Peaks to Plains” is a blog focusing on Wyoming’s outdoors and communities. Kelsey Dayton is a freelancer and the editor of Outdoors Unlimited, the magazine of the Outdoor Writers Association of America. She has worked as a reporter for the Gillette News-Record, Jackson Hole News&Guide and the Casper Star Tribune. Contact Kelsey at kelsey.dayton@gmail.com. Follow her on twitter: @Kelsey_Dayton

REPUBLISH THIS POST: For details on how you can republish this post or other WyoFile content for free, click here.
SUPPORT: If you enjoyed this story and would like to see more quality Wyoming journalism, please consider supporting WyoFile: a non-partisan, non-profit news organization dedicated to in-depth reporting on Wyoming’s people, places and policy.
WyoFile’s Commenting Policy

No anonymous comments. To be considered for publication, each comment must be accompanied by the writer’s first name, last name, and city of residence. This identifying information will be published with the comment. You may request an exemption from the editor if there is a reasonable expectation that by associating your name with your comment you may face undue retribution (email editor@wyofile.com).
Use your own words. Comments with excessive quotations and hyperlinks may be trashed.
Comments may be trashed for name-calling, personal attacks, threats, derogatory or defamatory comments, racism, sexism or any form of bigotry.
Do not discourage others from commenting.
Be reasonable with the length of your comment. If you have more to say, submit a guest column proposal to the editor (email editor@wyofile.com).

Join the Conversation

1 Comment

WyoFile's goal is to provide readers with information and ideas that foster constructive conversations about the issues and opportunities our communities face. One small piece of how we do that is by offering a space below each story for readers to share perspectives, experiences and insights. For this to work, we need your help.

What we're looking for:

Your real name — first and last.
Direct responses to the article. Tell us how your experience relates to the story.
The truth. Share factual information that adds context to the reporting.
Thoughtful answers to questions raised by the reporting or other commenters.
Tips that could advance our reporting on the topic.
No more than three comments per story, including replies.

What we block from our comments section, when we see it:

Pseudonyms. WyoFile stands behind everything we publish, and we expect commenters to do the same by using their real name.
Comments that are not directly relevant to the article.
Demonstrably false claims, what-about-isms, references to debunked lines of rhetoric, professional political talking points or links to sites trafficking in misinformation.
Personal attacks, profanity, discriminatory language or threats.
Arguments with other commenters.

Other important things to know:

Appearing in WyoFile’s comments section is a privilege, not a right or entitlement.
We’re a small team and our first priority is reporting. Depending on what’s going on, comments may be moderated 24 to 48 hours from when they’re submitted — or even later. If you comment in the evening or on the weekend, please be patient. We’ll get to it when we’re back in the office.
We’re not interested in managing squeaky wheels, and even if we wanted to, we don't have time to address every single commenter’s grievance.
Try as we might, we will make mistakes. We’ll fail to catch aliases, mistakenly allow folks to exceed the comment limit and occasionally miss false statements. If that’s going to upset you, it’s probably best to just stick with our journalism and avoid the comments section.
We don’t mediate disputes between commenters. If you have concerns about another commenter, please don’t bring them to us.

The bottom line:

If you repeatedly push the boundaries, make unreasonable demands, get caught lying or generally cause trouble, we will stop approving your comments — maybe forever. Such moderation decisions are not negotiable or subject to explanation. If civil and constructive conversation is not your goal, then our comments section is not for you.