The Morning Glory Pool at Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone National Park is home to some of the most amazing natural sights in the world, not the least of which is the Morning Glory Pool. The Morning Glory Pool is a hot spring that is one of the more famous sites at the park. It is known for its vibrant color. However, much of that has diminished over the past decades. Nonetheless, the pool is still stunning to behold. The change in the pool’s color is also very interesting in that it gives us a look into the effect that pollution can have on the world that surrounds us.

The Morning Glory Pool was named in 1883 for its magnificently deep blue color. The pool was nearly the same exact color as the flower for which it was named. When it was first named, it was known as convolutus, the Latin word for morning glory. The pool is located on the northern edge of the Upper Geyser Basin.

This pool is roughly 23 feet by 26 feet and is about 23 feet deep. Currently, the temperature of the water in the Morning Glory Pool is roughly 171.6 degrees Fahrenheit. The water is clear enough that you can see the way that the sides taper down into its depths. Viewed from some angles, this gives the illusion that the pool is running down into the center when it is actually a flat surfaced pool. This also makes the pool seem as if it has a “stem,” which makes its name that much more appropriate.

Unfortunately, the pool has changed color over the years because of the acts of uncaring or unwitting visitors. Tons (yes, tons) of trash have been thrown into the pool, effectively blocking the pool’s vents, which are what make the pool so hot. The blue color of the pool is caused by thermophilic bacteria that need high temperatures to survive.

When the vents became blocked by trash, the temperature in the pool started to drop, thus killing some of these bacteria. The drop in temperature also made it possible for other bacteria to thrive in the Morning Glory Pool. These new bacteria are red, yellow and orange in color and are changing the pool’s color from the outside in. As the pool gets cooler, the new bacteria move closer to its center. Given enough time, the entire pool could change, if the vents do not get opened back up.

An old road used to go directly by the Morning Glory Pool, so there were many more visitors to it in the past. People would throw trash in the pool and they would also take away pieces of the pool’s edge as souvenirs. Today that road is gone, so there are not as many visitors because to get to the pool one must walk or bicycle for 1.5 miles both ways; a three-mile trip total. Because the Morning Glory Pool is a geyser it is hoped that it will one day blow the trash loose and effectively remove the blockage from the thermal vents. However, whether it will do so or not is uncertain, especially with the amount of trash that is in it. For now, we can only hope that some effort on our part or some natural occurrence will return the pool to its original, magnificent state.