My Dad is in town, ask us anything.

[HawkerHurricane]

DoD has a degree in Earth Sciences; he spent his summer in Yellowstone (just like every year) as a Ranger/Naturalist. So, ask away!

[Swede]

1. How's Yogi and Bubba bear doin'

[HawkerHurricane]

2. That's Jellystone, silly

and 'after his time'.

He hated that show when I watched it way back when.

[Swede]

4. Stupid brain!

[gristy]

3. How are the buffalo doing?

What impact are they having on Yellowstone's ecosystem (good and bad)?

[HawkerHurricane]

11. The Buffalo, being part of the ecosystem

are doing fine.

It was a very good year for buffalo; only 2 were killed by cars; tourists did even better with no (reported) injuries. So this years score:
Tourists 2
Buffalo 0

[Swede]

5. Is Old Faithful still fairthful?

[HawkerHurricane]

12. Still fairthful after all these years...

As always, Old Faithful has two types of eruptions. A short eruption of 2 minutes means it will erupt again in 65 minutes (plus or minus 10 minutes); a long eruption of 4 minutes means it will erupt 92 minutes later (plus or minus 10). Height of the eruptions hasn't changed; The interval used to be shorter, but it's just as predictable as ever.
(I wouldn't set my watch by it, says Hawker)

[havocmom]

6. Dad gonna come out east to Tiny Town next summer?

The porch light is on for him and we can nose around the area!

Any earth sciences pro and parent of our hero HawkerHurricane is welcome
to pop in! Havocdad would be a good guide to the oddities.

Maybe Dad could give us some theory on the bump the locals call Smokey Butte. It always seems gloomy there, even before the FBI set up whatever they did with all those helicopters during the Freeman Standoff a few years back.

I would like an educated guess as to the quantity of magma in that dastardly pool under the park that I tend to fret about too much ;-) My older bro says it could bury the state of WY pretty deep and suggests that I move back to the western part of the Big Sky.

Hi to Hawker's Dad from the little house on the Montana Prairie from me an Havocdad :hi:

[HawkerHurricane]

14. Dad says:

I don't know where Smokey Butte or Tiny Towne are;
Magma Chamber guestimated a sphere 10 miles in diameter; @370 cubic miles of material. What's the square milage of Wyoming?
The eruption 600,000 years ago covered both Wyoming and Montana with ash. It was deepest at the edge of the caldera (up to 1400 ft) and shallower the farther away you got. Downwind is to the East, normally.

I Say the first sign of real activity will be hordes of geology grad students coming up, looking for disertation material.
The last sign would be the same students, driving 90 mph leaving the park... ("Last one out of the park is a future archeological find!")

[henslee]

7. what is the 411 on the best way to preserve the Sequoia Monument?

I know that a judge refused to hear a case to reverse its monument status by big Tulare farmers and the Forest Dept. But what is a viable long term strategy to protect it?

[HawkerHurricane]

15. Vote Democratic.

But you knew that.

[blm]

8. Environmental question....

Who do you think has the most comprehensive environmental policies?

[HawkerHurricane]

16. Sierra Club

or were you talking about the Presidential candidates? (He hasn't started his research on them.)

[Skittles]

9. what does he think of the snowmobiler thing

that was Yellowstone, right?

[HawkerHurricane]

17. It was Yellowstone

2 cycle engines are noisy, poluting, and will eventually be banned. And the snowmobilers that like to chase the wildlife should be banned.
Beginning this winter 80% of all snowmobiles going into the park MUST be 4 cycle engines and accompanied by a licensed professional guide. That should reduce animal harassment, noise and air pollution.
(Unless the Bush administration files yet another lawsuit that is.)

[Kamika]

10. Who's your daddy?

And what does he do?

[GoddessOfGuinness]

13. I read that there's limited access to some of the geysers

because they've been spewing out unusually hot stuff. What do you think is going on there?

[HawkerHurricane]

18. Part of the Norris Geyser Basin is closed.

A new hot spring (or mud pot?) started to form; and when they tested the water they found out that the ground for more than an acre around the new feature was 200F (the boiling temperature of water at that elevation). They are worried about a possible steam explosion so they closed the potential danger area off.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

20. How often do new ones form?

Is this a big event?

[HawkerHurricane]

21. He's seen 3-4 new 'thermal features'

in ten years working Summers at Yellowstone. New ones appear, old ones die. Also, dormant features become active every year. The problem is it's hard to tell what's really 'brand new' and what's just been dormant for the past 200 odd years. Actually, we've only been keeping a watch on the area for the past 133 years.

[HawkerHurricane]

19. Self Bump for morning crowd

So people can see thier answers, eh?