The world's tallest active geyser has set a record after it erupted for the 30th time. 

Last weekend, the erratic Steamboat Geyser in Yellowstone National Park roared into life and smashed a record that has been around since 1964, when the enormous geyser recorded 29 eruptions. 

Steamboat is capable of blasting hot water and steam as high as 400 feet (122 meters).

Steamboat (pictured) is found in Yellowstone National Park and is capable of blast hot water and steam as high as 400 feet (122 meters). Experts have found it erupted 30 times in 2018 (stock)

Steamboat has the accolade as the world's largest geyser but is somewhat overshadowed by the fame and popularity of Old Faithful in the national park.  

Park officials say Steamboat also went through active periods in the early 1960s and early 1980s, but was quiet for a 50-year spell, from 1911 to 1961.

The most recent eruption happened at 1am Saturday. 

Most roads in Yellowstone are closed for the winter and the park hasn't opened to snowmobiles yet.

Steamboat`s latest eruption was a nine day window between blasts and this was the longest interval since August. 

Throughout the summer it has been erupting roughly once a week.   

'The heightened activity at Steamboat this year is uncommon but not unprecedented,' said Jeff Hungerford, Yellowstone's park geologist, according to LocalNews8.

Steamboat (pictured) has the accolade as the world's largest geyser but is somewhat overshadowed by the fame and popularity of Old Faithful, also in Yellowstone. Geologists have said it is 'uncommon but not unprecedented' for it to be this active (stock)

'We have seen similar activity twice previously; once in the early 1960s, and again in the early 1980s. 

'Conversely, the world's tallest active geyser has also exhibited years of quiescence or no major eruptions, with the longest being the 50-year period between 1911 and 1961.

'We'll continue to monitor this extraordinary geyser.'  

COULD AN ERUPTION AT THE YELLOWSTONE SUPERVOLCANO BE PREVENTED?

Recent research found a small magma chamber, known as the upper-crustal magma reservoir, beneath the surface

Nasa believes drilling up to six miles (10km) down into the supervolcano beneath Yellowstone National Park to pump in water at high pressure could cool it.

Despite the fact that the mission would cost $3.46 billion (£2.63 billion), Nasa considers it 'the most viable solution.' 

Using the heat as a resource also poses an opportunity to pay for plan - it could be used to create a geothermal plant, which generates electric power at extremely competitive prices of around $0.10 (£0.08) per kWh.

But this method of subduing a supervolcano has the potential to backfire and trigger the supervolcanic eruption Nasa is trying to prevent.

'Drilling into the top of the magma chamber 'would be very risky;' however, carefully drilling from the lower sides could work. 

This USGS graphic shows how a 'super eruption' of the molten lava under Yellowstone National Park would spread ash across the United States

Even besides the potential devastating risks, the plan to cool Yellowstone with drilling is not simple.

Doing so would be an excruciatingly slow process that one happen at the rate of one metre a year, meaning it would take tens of thousands of years to cool it completely. 

And still, there wouldn't be a guarantee it would be successful for at least hundreds or possibly thousands of years.