Before he even got his water samples back to the lab, Dr. Bill Seyfried from the University of Minnesota already knew he had hit gold… It was the same sulphur smell that overpowers you at Old Faithful, Mud Volcano, and other geothermal areas in Yellowstone. As Bill calls it, the “smell of Mother Earth.” But unlike the colorful and bubbling geothermal features that amaze visitors in the park, this odiferous water sample came from 400 feet down at the bottom of Yellowstone Lake. Bill and his team are using some hand-crafted instruments, wielded by the ROV Yogi, to take samples of geothermally-heated water that is bubbling up in the dark depths of the lake. Read the captions to see how his team is making these exciting new discoveries. Photos by Chris Linder, WHOI. Work was completed under an authorized Yellowstone Research Permit.
Sleep is in short supply for Bill's team. The alarm goes off at 4:30am, and they are already hard at work before the sun is up. Work was completed under an authorized Yellowstone Research Permit.
The gun-like device held in Yogi's manipulator arm was designed by engineer Chunyang Tan, and allows the team to measure the temperature and pH of the super hot water right as it emerges from the lakebed (the team measured fluid temperatures of greater than 340°F at discharge sites on the lake floor). The shiny cylinders behind the arm are used to collect samples of the geothermal water for future analysis. Work was completed under an authorized Yellowstone Research Permit.
When Annie returns to the pier at 4pm, their work has only just begun… Then they head to the lab to extract their water samples, and often don't finish until 11pm. Work was completed under an authorized Yellowstone Research Permit.
"Smells like Mother Earth"… Todd Gregory disconnects the lines from the instruments and gets a whiff of sulphurous water from the lakebed. Work was completed under an authorized Yellowstone Research Permit.
From left, Bill Seyfried, Huan Chen, Todd Gregory, and Chunyang Tan celebrate their second successful day of work on the lake. Using Chunyang's sampler, the team measured the hottest ever water recorded in the lake: 175 degrees C (347 F). Once it enters the lake, the water is quickly mixed with the cold, 4 C (39 F) lake water . Work was completed under an authorized Yellowstone Research Permit.
Chunyang (left) and Bill disconnect their instruments from the ROV to complete their sampling in the lab. Work was completed under an authorized Yellowstone Research Permit.
Huan Chen carries the fluid samplers to the truck. Each one of the cylinders contains a sample of geothermally-heated water from a different part of the lakebed. Work was completed under an authorized Yellowstone Research Permit.
In a tiny cabin near Fishing Bridge, Christie Cino and Huan Chen spend hours extracting the precious water samples from the cylinders and storing them for future analysis at the University of Minnesota. Bill and his team are thrilled by the success they had this week. They measured the hottest ever temperature recorded in the lake and collected 15 fluid samples from the lakebed vents. Work was completed under an authorized Yellowstone Research Permit.
