Yellowstone volcano of the past: A mud volcano in Norris Geyser Basin that was vigorously active in 1947, intermittently ejecting thick mud clots when surface water was scarce, but a surging gray viscous pool when surface water was more abundant, as shown here, when the pool was about 4Just last week I had a very concerned visitor here at the museum asking about how soon the volcanic activity around Yellowstone is going to erupt again. In geologic time, it’s due to be real soon. In our human understanding time, it’s probably nothing we need to be overly concerned about.

But new data show that something is brewing up in the Yellowstone region. The volcanic crater left in Yellowstone after its last eruption has been rising in elevation about three inches a year for the last three years, report researchers from the University of Utah.

That growth could be the result of molten rock accumulating and growing underneath the crater. But researchers say there are no signs of an imminent eruption coming.

In fact, many similar volcanic craters around the world regularly rise and fall from such molten activity for decades for centuries before eruptions.

Historically, Yellowstone has been the site of huge volcanic eruptions 2 million, 1.3 million and 642,000 years ago. All of those eruptions were more devastating than the eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington in 1980.

Of course, all of that heat and energy trapped beneath Yellowstone help to fuel the geysers that some of the key attractions of the national park that’s primarily in northwestern Wyoming.

I’ve talked with some park rangers who’ve said that the next time Yellowstone blows, we’ll notice the impacts here in Minnesota, even in a significant drop of sunlight getting through ash-filled skies. What do you think? Is a Yellowstone eruption something we need to be freaking out about?

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