Scientists from Montana and Germany develop simple new model
that explains the brilliant deep hues of Yellowstone National Park’s most beautiful
thermal springs.
Researchers at Montana State University and Brandenburg
University of Applied Sciences in Germany have created a simple mathematical
model based on optical measurements that explains the stunning colors of
Yellowstone National Park’s hot springs and can visually recreate how they
appeared years ago, before decades of tourists contaminated the pools with
make-a-wish coins and other detritus. The model, and stunning pictures of the
springs, appear today in the journal Applied Optics, which is published by the
Optical Society (OSA).