If anyone has been watching the earthquakes worldwide today, you might have noticed that there have been three >M2.5 earthquakes in the Yellowstone Caldera today at depths <10 km. Not to say that it is anything, but just something to note.
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I've now uploaded nearly all of the Yellowstone pictures. There are two additional
photo albums on Picasa: one for the Mammoth Hot Springs area, and one for the Yellowstone canyon. Here are the links:
Yellowstone Lake eruption, April 1, 2009
You have already heard that there has been increased seismic activity at Yellowstone National Park over the last few days. Since December 26th, there have been several earthquakes a day, some jut over 3.0 magnitude, in the vicinity of the north side of Yellowstone's lake.
Just as unexpectedly as when the last swarm started, and just as unexpectedly as when the last swarm stopped, there is a new swarm. Verifying my initial statement: At least at some levels, the experts don't have much of a clue about these things. Not their fault.
I will be at Yellowstone next week. I'm not worried though, I know the odds are really small something is happening and that experts are always watching things.
On the subject of "super volcanoes", since modern man has never seen one, we really don't know a lot about what the precursors would be. I assume that of a "regular" volcano, but maybe just on a much bigger scale and maybe lasting longer? Interesting to speculate.
Once upon a time, I was told about the incredibly high heat flow measurements at Yellowstone while on an FOP trip (Friends of the Pleistocene). We were taken on a boat to the location in Yellowstone Lake over which the readings had been made. Needless to say, a lot of sudden and excited (worried?) speculation ensued. I've been keeping an eye on Yellowstone ever since.
Looking at the seismic data they have had a nice little swarm of small shallow earthquakes at Yellowstone over the last 24 hours or so, the vast majority are inside the Caldera. It is almost certainly business as usual at yellowstone.