Yellowstone News and Information

Was there ever a Yellowstone on Mars?  By  Yellowstone Volcano Observatory   November 24, 2025 Yellowstone is not just a fantastic natural laboratory for Earth-based studies.  A better understanding of hydrothermal activity in the first National Park can also provide clues about what Mars might have looked like long ago. Yellowstone  Caldera  Chronicles is a weekly column written by scientists and collaborators of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory.  This week's contribution is from R. Greg Vaughan, research scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey, and Steve Ruff,   associate research professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University. Today, Mars is a cold and dry planet with a very thin, low-pressure atmosphere.  It has water, but it's all frozen, locked up in underground ice (like permafrost) and in polar ice caps.  But billions of years ago Mars had a thicker atmosphere and a warmer and wetter clima...

  Major construction project at Yellowstone National Park hits big milestone

Most Park Roads Closed to All Vehicles  Most roads are closed to prepare for commercially-guided snowcoach and snowmobile travel during the winter season, which will begin December 15 (weather depending). The road between the North and Northeast entrances is the only road open year-round to regular vehicles. The only road generally open year-round to regular vehicles is from the North Entrance at Gardiner, Montana, through the park to Cooke City, Montana (via Tower Junction).   Most park roads are closed to regular vehicles from early November to late-April, and are open to limited oversnow travel (commercially-guided snowmobiles and snowcoaches) from mid-December to mid-March. When open, roads are not gated at night and people may enter/exit the park 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Yellowstone has five entrance stations, and it takes several hours to drive between them. Anticipate possible road closures, and check the road status of the entrance you intend to use...

A mission to repair one of the most interesting GPS monitoring stations in Yellowstone   By  Yellowstone Volcano Observatory   November 17, 2025 Many of the monitoring sites in Yellowstone National Park are located in remote areas.  When they go offline, a lot of preparation and effort is necessary to bring them back to functionality. Yellowstone  Caldera  Chronicles is a weekly column written by scientists and collaborators of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory. This week's contribution is from Michael Poland, geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey and Scientist-in-Charge of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory. The continuous GPS station at White Like, designated WLWY (GPS stations are always given 4-character codes), is one of the most interesting in all of Yellowstone National Park.  The station was installed in 1999 on the Sour Creek  resurgent  dome —one of two uplifted areas of Yellowstone caldera that formed due to  magma ...

Yellowstone National Park's new bridge near Tower opens to vehicles

  Visiting Yellowstone National Park this Winter? Here’s what to Expect

Yellowstone announces winter bison reduction plans amid complaints from Nez Perce