Whats going on at yellowstone?

Seems like the energy is picking up a little at Yellowstone.

www.quake.utah.edu...
www.iris.washington.edu...
www.iris.washington.edu...
www.iris.washington.edu...
www.iris.edu...
www.quake.utah.edu...

I wonder if the trend will continue.

[edit on 15-3-2010 by EngTech36]

reply to post by EngTech36


I need to do research on this. It appears to me that Yellowstone's activity increases prior to large events somewhere else on earth. It also sometimes reacts after large quakes in certain areas. The question now is - is this the chicken or the egg?

reply to post by PuterMan


How do you do all these neat graphical things? I still don't even
know how to put a screen capture into the replies.

I can see that I chose the wrong word "phase" to describe the
difference. I checked out some of the other instruments for
the same time period and they all differ from each other!!

The LHZ channels give a somewhat different picture.
www.iris.edu...
www.iris.edu...

This is a first attempt at a sound file. It is 2 minutes 30 seconds,
26 megabyte. Taken from B208, starting 21:45 UTC March 15,2010

It sounds like a snow plow to me!

media.abovetopsecret.com...

Thanks to PuterMan for his QuakeData which makes this possible.

B944 had a few larger quakes today as well as B207.

[edit on 15-3-2010 by EngTech36]

This thread has got 314 flags and 592 pages but started in Dec 2008. It is a fascinating thread but should be closed and started over. People are posting a lot here and this maybe should be on the front page and get more attention. It is not old news.

reply to post by m khan


I thank you for your comments however as a long-standing member of this thread I have to say that I completely disagree with you.

To close this thread would mean the loss of back reference to items and most of the knowledge gathered here would not be available to newcomers as the thread would basically sink into oblivion.

We are of course aware that it is not old news, but on the other hand it is also not "Oh My God" news either which tends to be the subject of front page items.

There is some very serious, if amateur, research that goes on by the people on this thread and I for one would be more than a little miffed if the thread was closed.

I have ALL the pages on this thread saved to hard disk, and quite a number of the links off them and I am working as we speak on a cross referencing program to enable people to come up to speed on the thread and find points of interest. Obviously such a program will have to be passed the the ATS staff as there may be issues of copyright, but until I have a working version for my own use I cannot approach that - but I will.

Just in case you think we should have for example Yellowstone 2009, 2010 etc, again I would not agree. The 2008/9 swarm crossed the year boundary and splitting into years would again break continuity.

This of course is just my opinion and I would have to accept that others may consider your idea to be a good move.

reply to post by EngTech36


Looking at the plot I see the part to which you are referring, but I am not convinced that this is a snow plough. Now I don't rightly know how snow ploughs operate having only seen one once in my lifetime, but I would have expected that signal to fade/come back cyclically perhaps if this was plough going up and down a road - after all the seismo cannot follow it!

Listening to the sound file I would have said that there was wind there with a few minor quakes and some movement of water? (That sound is something we have not determined properly yet.) I will have a closer listen later today and see. (or hear!)

Congrats on your first posted sound file by the way, and I am very pleased to have provided the means for you to enjoy this particular aspect of quake watching. I find these sound files completely mesmerising!

reply to post by PuterMan

I agree with your thoughts on the thread. I am a new comer, and
although I have done a lot of reading here, I have not yet read
all the pages. Your idea of a search program sounds like a very
good idea. I have been using with great difficulty the tools that
are available, finding things that I know are in the thread.

On the sound, it looks like again I have chosen the wrong word!!
Snow plough may not be the right machine. I am not sure about
How they do it in Yellowstone, but in many places I have seen the
use of machines with blades, sometimes even Cats. This is
because there is a lot of snow on the sides of the road from
plowing, and getting ready for the coming tourist season they try
to get the road back to its normal width. Someone who lives
around the area could give us a better description. I did some
recordings of B206 and the noise was the same over there.

reply to post by m khan

While I appreciate your perspective I feel that this is one of those threads that really needs to stay open. There is a certain continuity here and as PuterMan said, starting a new thread would make referencing more difficult.

There is also the fact that as it is the main Yellowstone thread on ATS, it will doubtless come up in searches for any members who are seeking information about Yellowstone, especially when it makes the mainstream news as it does from time to time. Those of us who have been involved in it throughout are able to answer most queries from any newcomers and if need be we can refer them to material and/or links within the thread.

If a new thread were to be created we would probably be referring newcomers to this one for any older, in-depth analyses, or else needing to re-hash countless points and issues that have already been thrashed out and resolved here. I see no point in taking that route and even from the point of view as a resource, this thread's value only increases as it grows longer. While it has a sprinkling of frivolity to lighten the tone, most of the posts add information it. Also, there has been remarkably little pettiness or bickering -- which is far more than can be said for a lot of threads on ATS.

Here, the focus is on contributing to the body of knowledge and providing a supportive environment for learning, all of which are good reasons for it to continue.

Best regards,

Mike

I wonder if they have an evacuation plan? Better hope its not put together by FEMA

www.fema.gov...

Today, if you look at B207 you will see something that does not
look like an earthquake, starting around 14:00 UTC
www.iris.edu...

I believe it is part of the spring clean-up mentioned above.

Here is a 1 minute 16 seconds audio file from B207 seismometer
starting at about 16:22 UTC and continuing to 17:00. The end
of the recording is about the closest the machine got to B207.
Playback is 30 times the original speed.

media.abovetopsecret.com...

Edit: At 19:22:23:860 on YPK looks like a 1+ quake, about equal
in size on YMP and YSB. I thought it might trigger the auto
locater, but see nothing listed yet.

[edit on 16-3-2010 by EngTech36]

The Old Faithful is now very inactive. Very little steam escapes.

Why? Is this normal?

Since the earthquakeswarm have subsided, you are still the danger of an outbreak?

There can be no prediction for the eruption of Old Faithful given. Is on the webcam: Old Faithful predictions will resume on April 16 2010th

[edit on 16-3-2010 by Austria]

[edit on 16-3-2010 by Austria]

reply to post by EngTech36


As someone who grew up in snow country, and who has been to Yellowstone 5 times in the last 4 years, ill give you an overview of how it works with regards to snow. During the winter, most of the roads close to "wheeled" vehicles. They do not plow any of the roads in the southern end of the park for the entire winter. Therefore, they build up between 1-3 feet of snowpack for the season. The groomers that they run, as Robin pointed out, simply go over the top and smooth the surface, as snowmobiles chew up the surface easily and daily. In Wisconsin where i am from (and do alot of snowmobiling), they groom the trails daily. Now that the snowmobile/snowcoach season is over, they have to remove all the snow from the road, and push it away from the sides of the road also. Plows only do this at speeds of 10-20 mph, so the duration of the signals would make sense with any siesmometers near these roads. Oh and plows are hydraulicly pressed down to the surface of the road, and will "shake" your house when they come past...so i have to go along with the snowplow theory on those "blotches" or whatever we are calling them.

Lastly, closing this thread would NOT be good...it it by far the greatest source of information on Old Yeller i have ever found!!! The minds on here are great, aside from the few doomsayers who stroll in from time to time, the amount of research going on, amatuer or not, is better than any other source ANYWHERE. And for the most part, you all work together on questions that come up until an agreeable answer comes up. Very noble of you all, it gives me faith that there is still some humanity in this world.

Personally, i think you all shoud collab and write a book....

Also, thanks to Puterman and Roald for pointing out that rift...never came across that in my researching...now to find out how to get there and take pictures to share with you all....I will be driving from Arizona to Wi soon, and plan to swing through the park along the way. (Yeah i know its not really "on the way", but its how i do things) I am also planning to spend 2 weeks in the backcountry of the park this June, as i want to find the thermal goodies in the backcountry, ive been to all the ones by the roads.

Last night I had a dream that I was reading the drudge report, and the top headline that took up half of the front page in giant red lettering said "YELLOWSTONE HAS ERUPTED". It was very vivid, and scary. They had the little flashing lights next to it, and people were freaking the heck out.

reply to post by Austria


Well spotted. I do find that rather curious. Why would they suspend the predictions?

My only suggestion here is that these are manually updated since OF is not exactly regular and therefore cannot be 'predicted' by computer, and the person who normally does them is off on holiday for a long Easter break.

reply to post by downtown436


It began slowly, a throbbing sensation swelling in both effect and volume. More and more lights danced behind my eyes. A stifling oppressive cloud covered me and weighed heavier and heavier on my face. I could not breathe. In my panic I cried out "Yellowstone is erupting". My cry was not headed, lost in the deafening noise.

Then I woke - darn I had a headache, and my blood was pumping. I pulled the blanket off my face and gulped in the fresh air. More water next time I vowed!!

[edit on 16/3/2010 by PuterMan]

reply to post by PuterMan





I really hope it doesn't happen.

But, I would rather be killed by mother nature than my fellow earthlings.

With reference to PB.B207 today and the 'noise' I have been doing some investigations.

First I note that in the wave file there is a solid band of noise at 3Hz and nothing above that. To remove this I used the high-pass filter in Audacity set at 2.9Hz having first removed the clicks. I then amplified it.

There is a lovely little local quake which occurs on the plot at 13:41 and a few seconds - this is clearly seen on the plot as a blue squiggle.



Refer back to this picture for other parts later.

This is the sound of that little quake. (861Kb)

You can see another more distant one, but I have not done a sound file for that.

I am beginning to realise just what a handy tool the spectrum in Audacity is for identifying quakes. Here is the quake in the spectrum view.



Now this is where things begin to get interesting. Looking at a section of the plot around 16:37:24 you can see that basically it is heavy 'interference'. Here is the spectrum (highlighted) of 16:37:24 to 16:42:24

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/a0ff4fd9470d.png[/atsimg]

The long tall streaks in the spectrum appear to be small quakes. Yes there is a lot of noise, and maybe this is what the snow ploughs cause, but take a listen. This has been cut down to 500 Hz sample rate so basically is only 5 times as fast as the original. This makes a great deal of difference to what is discernible. There are certainly earthquakes in the sounds. This pattern is repeated through the fuzzy section of the plot so the question is do snow ploughs cause very mini very local quakes because that is what these sound like. 5.5Mb.

This is marked (not very clearly) in yellow above.

The section of plot from 15:04 to 17:44 which looks like this on the webicorder and below that on the spectrum:




The five minute plot section of the file is still highlighted.


[edit on 17/3/2010 by PuterMan]

reply to post by Austria


Things are not right anywhere at the time of this post! I have never in all the years I have been watching the web cam - since it opened seen this other than when they relocated/upgraded!

As for the rest:

Puterman - No snow plows but once - hump -- try this - pour some flour, salt or sugar on a table - thick - on top of a road you have laid out prior - now don't for get cross roads and parking area's - also remember the size of the road = about 3 blade widths - - now take a pre determined straight edge to be your plow and plow through your make believe snow and see what you come up with - don't forget the parking areas - and make sure there's no "snow" left to slip on and create liability - :-) - not as simple as a straight pass back an forth now is it.

I think at looking at the seismo's that yes there may very well have been micro quakes - but for plowing purposes - snow becomes hard and in places turns to ice. We also have to consider that the road is not a state highway with the finest top layer - so, is we mix ice and pot holes (as they are called in my area) with a plow truck, it is not a smooth ride! - and if the plow is widening the road - there are frozen snow banks on the side - which mind you not only make a lot of noise but can rattle your teeth - I can not hear the sound you just posted just now - I will get back to you on that tomorrow after I listen -

As for starting a new Thread - you go have at it. I think most of us are most comfortable here and almost all here are most welcoming and open to new posters and offer lots and lots of information and enjoy new thoughts, knowledge and information that most new poster bring in - just plain and simple good people sharing knowledge - knowledge from before coming here or learned here and hashed out here in an ongoing project that is new every day of every year with no boundaries -No Boundaries just like the Caldera we study - Now, why would someone want to go and change such a thing?

edit - geez - quit like ever - go into the typing room - post and --- - - idk - ok

[edit on 16-3-2010 by Anmarie96]

Spectrographs - they are good

[edit on 16-3-2010 by Anmarie96]

- did i really read what I thought I read above the instruments - my reading glasses are fogging! -

[edit on 16-3-2010 by Anmarie96]

[edit on 16-3-2010 by Anmarie96]

reply to post by PuterMan


very, very cool.

Something odd though. As I am listening to your recordings I am reminded of something. I have made several posts before on other threads regarding the 'sounds' I have heard three different times here while outside. I feel it as much as hear it. I have described it as a low rumbling, similar to a distant thunder, but not quite. Your recordings are nearly identical to what i have heard, minus the cracks from the quakes. Wierd.

Just as a matter of interest the method I use to create the files and to identify where blips in the sound file appear in the trace are sort of discussed in this pre-publication version of a page in the QuakeData help.

You can download the page here. This is a zip file so you will need to unzip it. In the zip file is an MHT file which is a web archive (if you were unaware) so double clicking the MHT file should open it in your default browser, unless your default is Firefox in the which case it will use Internet Explorer. Firefox cannot open these directly, unlike IE, Chrome and Opera. If you are using Google Chrome it will probably give you warnings.

There are sounds in the file. Double click on a speaker to play the sound (Hope that works! ) [Just checked - sorry they don't. I will have to work on that one. AH BUT if you open it in MS Word it does play the sounds when you double click. I assume this would also work in Open Office.]

This page is actually based on the file details I posted above.


[edit on 17/3/2010 by PuterMan]