Live camera
Mammoth Hot Springs live camera — Wyoming
A white hill built up in steps out of limestone carried by hot water. When the water finds a new path the dry terraces fade to grey, so the pattern shifts from year to year.
Sample October 2026What you are looking at
Across dry grassland, a white limestone terrace with a conifer-covered hill rising above it. The terrace spreads widely from side to side, mottled between bright white and faded grey.
This is the area at the northern entrance to Yellowstone National Park, where calcium carbonate carried by hot water welling from below has built up into steps over a long time. The paths the water takes change from year to year, and a step the water no longer reaches dries out and fades to grey. That is why the pattern on the hill differs year to year: the white parts are where the water is running now.
The hot water is thought to carry up something like two tonnes of calcium carbonate a day, which is why the shape of the terraces changes faster than a human lifetime. The lime itself is second-hand: it is dissolved out of limestone beds that were sea floor long before any volcano arrived here.
It is a still camera and the refresh interval is not published. Take it as a frame from a little before the moment you opened it.
The stone buildings standing about here were originally an army post. For thirty-two years before there was a National Park Service, it was the army that looked after Yellowstone, and barracks were put up from 1891 on to stop the poaching and the cutting of timber. The duty was handed over in 1918, while the buildings went on being used as offices and quarters.
Mountain time, fifteen to sixteen hours behind Japan. Late night to dawn in Japan is daytime there; at other hours a dark frame comes back.
About this camera
| Place | Wyoming |
| Format | Still image |
| Time zone | America/Denver (UTC-7, DST UTC-6) |
| Category | Volcano · Nature |
| Operator | U.S. National Park Service |
| Terms of use | U.S. government work |
The operator's own page
The footage belongs to each agency. This site is an unofficial guide, and each sample frame was copied once per camera under that agency's terms of use.
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