Dormant geyser erupts for first time in decades. See the ‘lucky’ video

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK (Idaho Statesman) — A long-dormant geyser in Yellowstone National Park erupted for the first time in decades, and a lucky geyser enthusiast was there to see it.

Graham Meech, a former president of the Geyser Observation and Study Association, was on his annual trip to the park to observe geyser activity when a ranger mentioned the inactive Economic Geyser had heated up enough to kill off the orange ring of bacteria around its surface, Meech told McClatchy News over the phone.

He had checked on the geyser the day before on Jan. 6 but didn’t notice any signs of a recent eruption, he said.

He decided to take another look on Jan. 7 — and ended up in the right place at exactly the right time.

“After Grand Geyser erupted nearby, I walked down to look at what Economic was doing, and it erupted as I was walking down,” he said.

The videos he captured show the geyser’s steaming water bubbling and gurgling below the surface before it bursts up into the frigid air. Meech says he saw it erupt 48 times over the next six hours, and up to 95 times over the rest of the week he spent there — much more than he expected in his wildest dreams.

He posted the videos to his Facebook and YouTube accounts. You can watch it in the video player above.

The geyser erupted “fairly regularly” before 1920 and then went mostly dormant, except for a few irregular eruptions over the years, he said.

The last eruption observed was in 1999, Cowboy State Daily reported.

Mike Poland, the scientist in charge of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, told the outlet this was the first sign of life from the Economic Geyser in almost 25 years.

“It’s fun (but) not particularly unusual,” Poland said of the geyser’s behavior. “Yellowstone geysers do this all the time. Giantess (Geyser) erupted a few times a year for decades, then over the past 23 years only erupted four times.”

Meech told McClatchy News he felt fortunate to witness the Economic Geyser’s random spate of activity during his annual geyser viewing. He’s been going to Yellowstone for 30 years, and 17 of those trips were during winter.

“I happened to get lucky this time,” he said. “I go every year. It’s my passion to watch the geysers, and they change every year, so we’re off to a good start this year.”

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