Yellowstone Volcano Observatory (YVO) has developed a monitoring plan for the period 2006-2015 to increase our ability to provide timely information during seismic, volcanic, and hydrothermal crises and to anticipate hazardous events before they occur. Upgrades to the monitoring network will provide high-quality data for scientific study and interpretation of one of the largest active volcanic systems in the world. Equipment additions and upgrades will bring the seismic network up to modern standards and add stations in areas that lack adequate station coverage. Borehole strainmeters and tiltmeters will be added to measure crustal movements and stream gages and gas-measuring instruments will allow YVO to compare geophysical phenomena, such as earthquakes and ground motions, to hydrothermal events, such as anomalous water and gas discharge. Please see the Volcano and Earthquake Monitoring Plan for the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, 2006-2015 for more information.

Images from the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory photogallery are now available as a kml file! To check out the images in their geographic locations, download the kml file and click on it to open it in Google Earth. If you do not already have a copy of Google Earth, visit http://earth.google.com/ to download a copy. Thanks to John Bailey of the Alaska Volcano Observatory & Arctic Region Supercomputing Center for creating the file.

YVO coordinating scientists Jacob Lowenstern and Robert Smith together with Long Valley Scientist-in-Charge David Hill recently published an article, Monitoring super-volcanoes: geophysical and geochemical signals at Yellowstone and other large caldera systems", that summarizes current knowledge about monitoring geological unrest at large calderas such as Yellowstone. The article is part of a group of papers that formed a Discussion Meeting on Extreme Natural Hazards organized through the Royal Society in October 2005. For more information about other papers from the meeting, please see the Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A Web site.

The American Museum of Natural History joined Yellowstone Volcano Observatory scientists in the field last September (2005) and have just posted a video, articles, and two interactive slide shows about the geology of the area. The video, Yellowstone: Monitoring the Fire Below includes interviews with Jake Lowenstern, YVO's Scientist-in-Charge, Hank Heasler, YVO Coordinating Scientist and Yellowstone Park Geologist, and USGS geologist Lisa Morgan. The articles, Yellowstone National Park is a Volcano and Signs of Restlessness expand on the information in the video whereas the article, Volcanic Witness: An Interview with Bob Smith provides information from Bob Smith's, YVO's Coordinating Scientist from the University of Utah, four decades of work on Yellowstone. For more information and to view the video, please see American Museum of Natural History Science Bulletins, Yellowstone: Monitoring the Fire Below.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is adopting a common system nationwide for characterizing the level of unrest and eruptive activity at volcanoes. YVO is the first volcano observatory to implement the new standard alert-level system. Our Monthly Updates, Status Reports, and Information Releases will now include both an alert level and an aviation color code. Yellowstone is currently at the alert level, NORMAL (Typical background activity of a volcano in a non-eruptive state), and Aviation Color Code GREEN (Volcano is in normal, non-eruptive state.). For more information, please see the article on the Volcano Hazards Website "USGS to Adopt a Common Alert-Level System to Inform Public of Volcanic Activity at U.S. Volcanoes".

This March 2006, the journal Nature published a paper by YVO scientist Charles Wicks and colleagues about a period of uplift in the northern part of the Yellowstone caldera. For more information about the recent findings, please see Satellite Technologies Detect Uplift in the Yellowstone Caldera.

Previous news stories are available in the YVO News Archive.