[Geysers] Yellowstone Thermal Inventory Data Online

[YELL_GIS at nps.gov]

Apologies for the late posting of this note - our email address was not
registered until today.

GOSA Listserve:
The recent amount of traffic concerning the Yellowstone Thermal Inventory
data online has prompted us to draft this note.  We would like to give you
an idea of the project history, methodology, and the reasoning behind
putting the data on the web in its current state.

In 1998, the Yellowstone Spatial Analysis Center (SAC) began a spatial
inventory of Park geysers, hot springs, mud pots, and fumaroles.  A
reasonably accurate (sub-meter to within a few meters) location for each
feature is collected with a research grade GPS and converted into a GIS
(geographic information system) layer.  In addition, digital photographs
and measurements of pH, electro-conductivity, and temperature are also
collected providing a snapshot of each feature on the day/time the data
were collected.

This process was initiated as a baseline inventory of the thermal features
in Yellowstone National Park in order to assess the spatial distribution of
the features and their basic properties (pH and temperature).  It is not a
comprehensive long-term monitoring project.  It is a baseline inventory of
the features that existed when the areas were visited.

The project has been minimally funded on a year-to-year basis and relies
upon interns and volunteers who commit to a summer of fieldwork, data
collection, entry, and quality control.  There is a competitive selection
process and the training and work is supervised by SAC staff.

One of the long-term goals of the project is to connect the GPS locations
of features with available research data.  For example, if the USGS has
sampled for geochemical data from a geyser, a microbiologist has taken 2
samples for DNA analysis from the same feature, and there is also eruption
data from a data logger, all of these separate studies could be linked to a
location point representing that geyser, providing ‘one-stop shopping’ for
all the available data.  This is cool idea, but lots of work to implement.

In 2006, MSU’s Thermal Biology Institute (TBI) approached the park and
asked if they could use the thermal inventory as a basis for an on-line
coordination of researcher data.  TBI initiated the Research Coordination
Network to get all of the thermal researchers working in Yellowstone to be
aware of each other and possibly working on some joint projects for mutual
benefit.  Since this was in-line with our own goals and beyond our means at
the time, we agreed.  With more than 10,000 entries in the database there
are bound to still be some errors we haven’t caught, but we decided to make
it available in order to get more input into the project.  This is a
dynamic database that is constantly being updated and improved.  Our
assumption is that we will fix errors as we find them and we will find them
a lot faster with dozens of people looking.  It seems better to have the
data out there being used and improved than to keep it unavailable except
to those few who happen to know it exists.

The volunteers and staff who have worked on the Thermal Inventory Project
for the past 10 years have each been trained in thermal area safety, data
collection methodology, and proper behavior and respect for the unique
features here at Yellowstone.  We have in the past relied upon the
knowledge of volunteers, NPS, and concessions staff who are experts in
particular areas to safely guide our crews into thermal areas.  We thank
them wholeheartedly for their help and knowledge.

We take multiple photos of each feature for identification purposes.  If
there are people in the photos it is only by chance and all of the people
are helping to sample.  If you notice a photo that might give the wrong
message to the public, it is there by accident.  There is an excellent
chance that we don’t want it on-line either.  Help us out by letting us
know and we can replace it with a better one.   In that vein, we encourage
all of you who find errors in the Thermal Inventory data to please send an
email to yell_gis at nps.gov so those errors can be fixed.  Be a little
patient because there are many of you and only a few of us.

It is one of the most special things about Yellowstone that groups such as
GOSA exist in order to study, enjoy, and be vocal advocates for the
spectacular array of thermal features in the park. The resources at hand do
not allow us to spend unlimited time working on this data set, so any help
you can offer would be appreciated.

Please email us at yell_gis at nps.gov with any concerns or comments, and we
will respond as soon as we can.

Thank you very much,

Yellowstone Spatial Analysis Center