“We’d seen Old Faithful,” says Emfinger, a Fayetteville, Arkansas-based storm chaser and photojournalist who’d spent that day in Norris Geyser Basin specifically hoping to catch Steamboat in action. “We’d seen Grand, Fountain, and Riverside. We thought, those are all pretty cool. But then Steamboat goes off and you realize those geysers are nothing.” (Jennifer did get to witness most of Steamboat’s eruption, too; she heard the commotion from the parking lot and hurried back down the boardwalk.) In fact, Emfinger ranks it as one of the most incredible sights he’s ever witnessed. “I’ve been in tornadoes and major hurricanes,” he says. “I’ve been next to lava from an erupting volcano. I always count Steamboat in the top 10 of all those things.”
Emfinger caught that eruption—on June 12, 2019—during one of Steamboat’s most active periods in decades. Most of the rest of us will never get so lucky. Steamboat Geyser is as famous for its unpredictability as it is for its astonishing height, going off busily for a few years, then sinking into dormant periods that see years pass between single eruptions. And though its watery fireworks get all the glory, what lies underneath is just as fascinating. Steamboat’s sporadic eruptions provide tantalizing clues about the complex hydrothermal system underlying much of Yellowstone—and expose just how much we don’t know about this place.
BY ELISABETH KWAK-HEFFERAN
Seeing Steamboat Geyser erupt is a life-list experience
Brian Emfinger had been waiting all day. His wife, Jennifer, finally gave up and headed back to the car, but he decided to hang out in the hot June sun just a little while longer. Minutes passed, steam from the geyser basin drifting across the chalk-colored landscape, as the geyser in front of him burbled with minor activity. And then, suddenly, jets of water began to blast skyward from two small vents in the ground, kicking off the minor eruption into a new gear. Emfinger knew something extraordinary was about to happen when he saw the excitement coursing through the dedicated geyser watchers in the small crowd. After about 30 seconds, “It was like a switch was flipped,” Emfinger remembers. “Basically, a jet engine is in the ground, shooting stuff out.” He watched in amazement as the tallest active geyser in the world sent water screaming 300 feet into the air amidst a deafening rumble. Rocks went streaking toward the sky, carried by the explosive torrent—including one the size of a dinner plate that rocketed straight at Emfinger. He dodged, and the rock fell on top of the wooden sign marked “Steamboat Geyser” instead, splitting it neatly in half. The water phase of the eruption lasted about 25 minutes, followed by at least another hour of steam.
Steam phase of Steamboat Geyser and Park Ranger NPS / Neal Herbert
What Makes a Geyser?
Brian Emfinger had been waiting all day. His wife, Jennifer, finally gave up and headed back to the car, but he decided to hang out in the hot June sun just a little while longer. Minutes passed, steam from the geyser basin drifting across the chalk-colored landscape, as the geyser in front of him burbled with minor activity. And then, suddenly, jets of water began to blast skyward from two small vents in the ground, kicking off the minor eruption into a new gear. Emfinger knew something extraordinary was about to happen when he saw the excitement coursing through the dedicated geyser watchers in the small crowd. After about 30 seconds, “It was like a switch was flipped,” Emfinger remembers. “Basically, a jet engine is in the ground, shooting stuff out.” He watched in amazement as the tallest active geyser in the world sent water screaming 300 feet into the air amidst a deafening rumble. Rocks went streaking toward the sky, carried by the explosive torrent—including one the size of a dinner plate that rocketed straight at Emfinger. He dodged, and the rock fell on top of the wooden sign marked “Steamboat Geyser” instead, splitting it neatly in half. The water phase of the eruption lasted about 25 minutes, followed by at least another hour of steam.
The Extremes of Steamboat Geyser
Old Faithful shoots water between 106 and 184 feet. Great Fountain Geyser blasts 100 to 200 feet. But Steamboat Geyser towers over the rest, reaching 300 to 380 feet in height. Why so high? Scientists think it has to do with the location of the geyser’s underground chamber, also called a bubble trap. Steamboat’s chamber is fairly deep, which builds up extra energy to lift the water ever higher.
Steamboat stands out from many other geysers in the park for another reason: its highly variable eruption schedule. Park records dating back to 1878 note just a handful of major eruptions in those early days, with years passing in between them. Then the geyser went dormant for 50 years, with no major action between 1911 and 1961. Then came a comparative hydrothermal frenzy, with 84 eruptions tallied from 1962 to 1965. Steamboat quieted down until a brief burst of activity in the early 1980s. Things stayed low-key for the next few decades, with just a few sporadic major blasts, until 2018. The geyser woke back up on March 15 of that year and didn’t stop, hitting new records of 48 eruptions in both 2019 and 2020.
https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/nature/steamboat-geyser.htm
That doesn’t mean geyser gazers are flying completely blind. Steamboat does give off some signs that a major eruption is building in the form of increasingly active minor eruptions. And temperature sensors in the geyser’s runoff channel provide a clue, too: When the temps stop jumping up and down and remain at a higher plateau, a major eruption becomes more likely. The Yellowstone Volcano Observatory publishes Steamboat’s water temperature data on its website, as well as releases monthly updates with geyser “forecasts.”Still, there are no sure things when it comes to Steamboat. Activity has taken a huge dip over the past few years, with only nine major eruptions in 2023 and six in 2024. The world’s tallest active geyser appears to be taking a rest once again, though for how long is anyone’s guess. That unpredictability is frustrating to anyone yearning to catch this natural wonder in action, but it also makes witnessing Steamboat Geyser a truly special—maybe once-in-a-lifetime—experience.
Left: Steamboat Geyser eruption seen through the trees. NPS / Jacob W. Frank | Right: Steam phase of Steamboat Geyser and visitors. NPS / Neal Herbert
What made Steamboat roar back to life so spectacularly in 2018? In short, we don’t know, says Michael Poland, scientist-in-charge at the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory. “We know what it’s not,” he says. “There’s no correlation with seismicity, or with any type of thermal changes. There’s no correlation with weather phenomena. This just seems to be Steamboat’s pattern.” The geyser’s sporadic schedule hints at the complicated forces at work underground. “The hydrothermal plumbing systems are complex and pretty fragile,” Poland says. “It doesn’t take much to monkey with things. These plumbing systems are always changing, and that can certainly affect geysers.”Some geysers—like Old Faithful, naturally—are fairly predictable. Scientists think that’s because these features tend to be isolated from others, with their own branches of the plumbing system. If the water and heat in these areas are constant, then the eruptions will be stable, too. But in other spots, hydrothermal features share some structures. “In areas where there’s groups of geysers, we know that they talk to each other,” Poland notes. “Water will move from one to the other. Activity can change easily.”
