Landsat satellites Track Yellowstone's Underground Heat

Yellowstone National Park sits on peak of a vast, ancient, and still active volcano heat pours off its underground magma chamber, and is the fuel for Yellowstone’s famous features additional than 10,000 hot springs, mud pots, terraces and geysers, as well as Old Faithful.

But expected development by energy companies right outside Yellowstone’s borders have a few fearing that Old Faithful could be cheated out of its energy."If that geothermal development exterior of the park begins, we need to recognize whether that's going to cause Old Faithful to suddenly stop spewing," says Rick Lawrence of Montana State University.

Geothermal energy development is here to stay, says Yellowstone Park geologist Cheryl Jaworowski, but it has also raised a few big questions for the National Park Service, which is tasked by Congress to monitor and skeep Yellowstone's unique landscape.