Archive - Infrared Yellowstone

January 28, 2018

Yellowstoneir

Each Sunday we present a notable item from our archives. This EPOD was originally published January 31, 2002.

Provided by: Space Infrared Telescope Facility / NASA
Summary authors & editors: Martin Ruzek; Space Infrared Telescope Facility / NASA; Richard Yessayian

Yellowstone National Park sits atop the caldera of one of the world's supervolcanoes, and is home to some 10,000 geothermal features. Shown above are several visible and infrared views of geothermal features found in the park. The temperature scale (Fahrenheit) below the infrared images will tell you which colors represent warmer or cooler temperatures. The temperatures on the scale are a measure of the heat or thermal radiation detected by an infrared camera, which was quite a distance away from the geothermal heat sources. Although the temperatures shown are not the actual temperatures of the geothermal features (which are much warmer!), they do show the relative distribution of heat.

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