The Yellowstone Volcano Observatory (YVO) is a volcano observatory that primarily monitors the

Yellowstone Caldera The Yellowstone Caldera, also known as the Yellowstone Plateau Volcanic Field, is a Quaternary caldera complex and volcanic plateau spanning parts of Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana. It is driven by the Yellowstone hotspot and is largely within Yel ...

Yellowstone National Park Yellowstone National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States located in the northwest corner of Wyoming, with small portions extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The observatory's jurisdiction also includes volcanic centers in the states of

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

, and

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

. As with other U.S. volcano observatories, it is funded through the

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on Mar ...

br>Volcano Hazards Program
The observatory consists of nine member agencies: The

, the

University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...

, the

University of Wyoming The University of Wyoming (UW) is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Laramie, Wyoming, United States. It was founded in March 1886, four years before the territory was admitted as the 44th state, ...

, Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology, the Wyoming State Geological Survey, the Idaho Geological Survey,

Montana State University Montana State University (MSU) is a public land-grant research university in Bozeman, Montana, United States. It enrolls more students than any other college or university in the state. MSU offers baccalaureate degrees in 60 fields, master's d ...

, and EarthScope Consortium. YVO was founded in 2001, originally as a three-way partnership with the USGS, the University of Utah and Yellowstone National Park. It was expanded in 2013 to include eight current organizations. According to the YVO website, the purpose of the observatory is: to monitor the volcanic system, to increase our scientific understanding of the Yellowstone volcanic and hydrothermal system, and to disseminate data, interpretations and accumulated knowledge to the public. The observatory undertook a monitoring plan in 2006 that served as the basis for upgrades undertaken by th
Plate Boundary Observatory
and by the USGS under the auspices of the

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) (), nicknamed the Recovery Act, was a Stimulus (economics), stimulus package enacted by the 111th U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama in February 2009. Developed ...

. In 2008, it published its initial response plan that sets up a series of internal protocols for data gathering and deliberation during geological events at Yellowstone. Staff from the various observatory partner agencies form several monitoring and information teams that assess geological and geophysical data. The document also outlines how the observatory would interact with the

incident command system The Incident Command System (ICS) is a standardized approach to the command, control, and coordination of emergency response providing a common hierarchy within which responders from multiple agencies can be effective. ICS was initially develop ...

. YVO provides a monthly update through its website as well as information statements for events that fall in between their normal updates. All updates are listed on th
VHP Alert Page
Individuals can receive automated updates through th
Volcano Notification Service
In 2005, a BBC/Discovery docudrama entitled

Supervolcano A supervolcano is a volcano that has had an eruption with a volcanic explosivity index (VEI) of 8, the largest recorded value on the index. This means the volume of deposits for such an eruption is greater than . Supervolcanoes occur whe ...

was released on cable television. The drama imagines the reaction of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory to a super eruption at the

. Producer Ailsa Orr credits YVO scientists as inspiration for the film's three primary characters. The YVO Scientist-in-Charge reflected on the hype associated with volcanism at Yellowstone in a 2005 magazine article.

References

{{Coord, 44.43025, -110.671908, type:landmark_globe:earth_region:US-WY, display=title 2001 establishments in Wyoming Earth sciences Government agencies established in 2001 United States Geological Survey Volcano observatories Volcanoes of the United States