Morning Glory Pool Was Blue? (Yellowstone Monthly Update - July 2024)

The beautiful Morning Glory pool is located near Old Faithful. However, it has changed over time because of people and past climate. But how?
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[@marilyncrowley3303]

You’re a terrific communicator!

[@melodieheisler368]

I so remember the blue. YNP was considered my backyard & about every 2-3 weeks we went there. As a little girl I HAD to see Morning Glory. I went back just 24 yrs ago & cried when I saw the color. I want to make 1 more trip there before I soon die, but I will skip Morning Glory & remember the gorgeous blue it once was.

[@geri8666]

Isn't it possible to recover its former color?

[@redneckcoder]

Last time I was there was the early 90s and I think by then it was already gone.

[@John-vn8vw]

Thanks Mike! I never miss an update.

[@rh5563]

And this is after they vacuumed as much fodder as they could out. I watched a video a long time ago where they put a boat in Morning Glory Pool and did just that.

[@usgs]

You can read about that cleanup and see a photo of the work at www.usgs.gov/observatories/yvo/news/whats-story-morning-glory. And the story of the boat they used -- named Little Dipper -- is at www.usgs.gov/observatories/yvo/news/yellowstones-spectacular-spring-story-grand-prismatic-and-little-dipper

[@timroot4207]

Thank you !

[@lindagreen8532]

Thank you for your great description and education, very nice.

[@mjjohnson6302]

And yet once again we missed Steamboat by a couple of days. Thanks for all the reports.

[@Geronimo122]

Very nice now, but just love that old blue color-- great video!

[@cindyrissal3628]

I'll admit I haven't been to Yellowstone since I was a kid, but one of my most vivid memories is of the color of Morning Glory pool. How sad some people can't be responsible w/ their actions. I see so much fluff on social media about "OMG! We'll all be killed when Yellowstone erupts!!!" I would find it very interesting if you would do a talk sometime on what signs to look for if the cauldera ever gets close to eruption. (Well, on second thought, it might just serve to stoke the fires of panic in a few directions...🙄)

[@JillKnapp]

I was there in 1985 and again in 1999, and I was blown away by how much things had changed, even back then. I wasn't sure if those changes were normal or not, but I remember feeling really sad about it. "Enshittification" was once a word reserved for the tech industry, but it's applicable everywhere now. 😔

[@christinebailey9935]

The impact people have in Yellowstone and other National Parks makes me think maybe there should be a rotation of closures of one or two parks each year. It would allow nature to reclaim and repair.

[@buffalokay]

@@christinebailey9935or just really crack down on rules. Increase fines for littering. Arrest people who interact with wildlife. Set up more webcams around the parks… so you can keep a close eye on visitors.

[@geri8666]

GOOD IDEA.

[@AntheaNairhappyA]

Beautiful pool. I am no where near to view places like this. Thank you for sharing. Peace and much love all the way from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia ♥️🌈

[@mwheape]

Isn't it wonderful how we can "visit" places not near enough for us to go see. I love Everest videos.

[@AntheaNairhappyA]

@@mwheape Yes, it certainly is. I like this channel because it fascinates me how our planet works.

[@Pottery4Life]

Thank you very much, Mike.

[@iancanuckistan2244]

Thanks Mike, Happy Canada Day!

[@Twodogs503]

Thanks well done as always.

[@Janika1982]

Thank you!👌

[@JulieAiken]

I can't wait for the July report and what you have to say about Biscuit Basin's behavior. Say that 5 times fast! Thanks for all you do.

[@kimgower1347]

Steamboat is a bucket list 4 me. Couple year ago my daughter and i were headed for Norris because i "had a feeling". Topped a hill and there it was, still several miles distant, a HUGE steam/water cloud in the distance. When we got to Norris a ranger at the lot entrance told us it had gone off about 45 min ago. No parking in lot, it was full, as was everwhere else. Missed it by that much...sigh...😢

[@nooneherebutuschickens5201]

Love your updates, Mike! Was that snow or rain coming down?

[@usgs]

A bit of snow on that day! Ah, summer in Yellowstone...

[@nooneherebutuschickens5201]

​@@usgs99° here in the Dallas area. A light snow sounds delightful about now!

[@kimoswald4583]

Thank you

[@Wut-A-Trip]

wow it was blue when i was 8 im 39 now..... it was so pretty it looks CRAZY diff now

[@RWBHere]

Thanks. Dit's a real shame that people destroyed the former beauty of that pool. If it's not blue, the name makes no sense. Will the blue ever return, or is it a permanent change?

[@underthetornado]

I remember the morning glory pool. I was 5. Im now 69😂❤

[@briansivley2001]

I've been wondering about something that has been said in a documentary about Yellowstone Volcano. During Yellowstone's previous major eruptions it wasn't known to have caused extinctions to animals at the time. I'm wondering why and how do we know that Yellowstone's previous major eruptions didn't cause extinctions and we hadn't noticed it? Like people compare The Yellowstone Caldera to Lake Toba in Indonesia calling it Lake Toba's Little Sister because they're very similar in size. What makes Yellowstone's previous eruptions different from what happened with Lake Toba when it erupted? Was it because when Toba erupted the climate was going towards a cooling phase so The Earth was headed towards another Glacial Period and Toba just made it happen more quicker than it would've happened if Toba didn't erupted and is that the main difference between the aftermath of Yellowstone's Eruptions and Lake Toba's Eruption? Because I would think that if a Supervolcano erupted something that is the equivalent to a asteroid impact then there'd be guaranteed extinctions for some animal species in the world.

[@usgs]

The eruption that formed Yellowstone Caldera was similar in overall style to that of Toba, although at least 5 times smaller in size. Toba was immense. But no explosive volcanic eruption has ever been associated with a mass extinction of wildlife. The eruptions are locally devastating and do impact climate, but the impact is temporary, lasting on the order of a few years -- the aerosols in the atmosphere settle out over time. These eruptions happen more often than large asteroid impacts (the size of the impact that wiped out the dinosaurs, for example), but are not as devastating to the planet overall.

[@muunokhoi]

What about the theory (genetic bottleneck evidence) that Toba reduced humanoid population to fewer than 5000 individuals. Is there substance to that idea?

[@usgs]

@@muunokhoi That's been refuted to a significant degree. It seems that the precise timing doesn't line up (the "bottleneck" started before the eruption), and the impacts, based on climate records from lakes in East Africa and archeological sites in Africa and India, were not as significant as originally thought.

[@jansenart0]

Wow! That place looks soooo calm and amazing and warm! I can't WAIT to swim there!

[@allenra530]

Darwin Award available for swimming in Morning Glory and other Yellowstone Hot Springs.

[@carolgonzales1410]

I looked it up 159° and hotter. Get yourself a good medical plan.

[@jansenart0]

@@carolgonzales1410 (the joke was the pH levels)

[@KeithLiss-wy7ge]

First time I saw Morninggolry pool was in 1962 it was still very blue . Back then, pesky bears 🐻 would come right up to the car

[@sdw2is]

I remember when it was perfectly blue.

[@ThomasValenta-zk1cu]

If you ask me that specific pool is the main primary entrance to the underground volcano there's a reason why the pool is all of those colors, it's a straight symbol pointing you right in the eye to the center of the volcano

[@ellenbryn]

I think it was still blue when I visited around 1990 I'll have to dig out old photos. How sad… I mean in the long scheme it's just a different set of bacteria colonizing a pool and a blip in the geological timescale but why do people feel the need to throw things in natural wonders?

[@Planet-ICELAND]

..back to blue?

[@katherenewedic8076]

people.

[@Valspartame_Maelstrom]

we have to stop putting question marks at the end of non-question sentences/statements.

[@usgs]

It sounds like you don't care for that use of punctuation? 😁 (kidding)

[@Valspartame_Maelstrom]

@@usgs how very dare you?!

[@heatherjones6647]

OMG people are so stupid throwing stuff into a natural pool.

[@THOTH.x]

Just more fear porn

[@usgs]

Not at all. As the video clearly states, Yellowstone remains at background levels of activity. The magma chamber is mostly solid, and there is no significant magmatic unrest. The odds of an eruption anytime soon are vanishingly small, and even if unrest did manifest, the most likely form of a future volcanic event is a lava flow, not a massive explosion. The most recent eruption of any kind was a lava flow that occurred 70,000 years ago. The biggest hazards in the Yellowstone region on human timescales are steam explosions and strong (M6+) earthquakes, neither of which directly involve magma or volcanism.

[@akashaggy505]

They lies theses people tell are crazy and getting worse an worse.😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@ResortDog]

Not looking up, or down at a compass, isn't really an option for any scientist as time goes on, is it?

[@borismedved835]

I hope you're referring to the youtube clowns who believe that the long-dead (at least 70,000 years) former volcano's magma is going to be spewing out of the ground "soon." It's either that or the science is way beyond your understanding.

[@PunaSquirrel]

Nice grammar🤙🏼

[@you2angel1]

Yeah good job! You condensed this down so well. This will definitely help me explain things to people when it comes to the environmental impact we have regarding our world's most beautiful Wonder Yellowston 🦬 °~•.☆.•~° Travertine countertops I would never. Granite baby! really cool backsplashes though.