Potential and Temperature Differences within Hot Pools in Yellowstone Park

Abstract

Potential differences of magnitude ranging from about 10 to 100 millivolts were found to exist between the surface layers and the interior of three hot pools in Yellowstone Park. Their long-term variations (of duration greater than 5 sec.) were linearly proportional to the simultaneous variations of temperature difference between the same points ; the gradients of the curves obtained ranged from about 400 to 700 mV.°C.-1 Two of the pools exhibited rapid and extremely regular pulsations of potential difference of the type observed by Sisler. These pulsations, which were unrelated to simultaneous variations in temperature difference, persisted with little change in frequency over many hours.