2 Dollars 2003, Serie A. Yellowstone National Park , United States of America
| no number in katalog | - |
| Years of issue: | 2003 |
| Edition: | |
| Signatures: | Secretary of Treasury: John W. Snow, Treasurer: Anna Escobedo Cabral |
| Serie: | Commemorative issue |
| Specimen of: | 2003 |
| Material: | 75 % Cotton, 25 % Linen |
| Size (mm): | 156 х 66 |
| Printer: | Bureau of Engraving and Printing, U.S. Department of the Treasury, Washington, D.C. |
* All pictures marked 
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** The word "Specimen" is present only on some of electronic pictures, in accordance with banknote images publication rules of appropriate banks.
Description
Watermark:
Watermarked paper.
Avers:
The portrait of the third President of USA Thomas Jefferson made by Bureau of Engraving and Printing.
Thomas Jefferson (April 13 [O.S. April 2] 1743 - July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Father, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence (1776) and the third President of the United States (1801-1809). He was a spokesman for democracy and the rights of man with worldwide influence. At the beginning of the American Revolution, he served in the Continental Congress, representing Virginia and then served as a wartime Governor of Virginia (1779-1781). Just after the war ended, from mid-1784 Jefferson served as a diplomat, stationed in Paris. In May 1785, he became the United States Minister to France.
Left from the portrait is a seal of the one of the banks, member of the United Federal Reserve System.
Right from the portrait is a seal of the USA Ministry of Finance.
In the seal are scales, symbolizing justice, a field with 13 stars (the number of the first states), the key and the year 1789 - the year of foundation of the ministry. Seals are located under the facsimile signatures of the Chiefs of Federal Reserve and Treasury, respectively.
Yellowstone National Park is a national park located in the U.S. states of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. It was established by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872. Yellowstone was the first National Park in the U.S. and is also widely held to be the first national park in the world. The park is known for its wildlife and its many geothermal features, especially Old Faithful geyser, one of its most popular features. It has many types of ecosystems, but the subalpine forest is the most abundant. It is part of the South Central Rockies forests ecoregion.
Native Americans have lived in the Yellowstone region for at least 11,000 years. Aside from visits by mountain men during the early-to-mid-XIX century, organized exploration did not begin until the late 1860s. Management and control of the park originally fell under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior, the first being Columbus Delano. However, the U.S. Army was subsequently commissioned to oversee management of Yellowstone for a 30-year period between 1886 and 1916. In 1917, administration of the park was transferred to the National Park Service, which had been created the previous year. Hundreds of structures have been built and are protected for their architectural and historical significance, and researchers have examined more than a thousand archaeological sites.
Yellowstone National Park spans an area of 3,468.4 square miles (8,983 km2), comprising lakes, canyons, rivers and mountain ranges. Yellowstone Lake is one of the largest high-elevation lakes in North America and is centered over the Yellowstone Caldera, the largest supervolcano on the continent. The caldera is considered an active volcano. It has erupted with tremendous force several times in the last two million years. Half of the world's geothermal features are in Yellowstone, fueled by this ongoing volcanism. Lava flows and rocks from volcanic eruptions cover most of the land area of Yellowstone. The park is the centerpiece of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, the largest remaining nearly-intact ecosystem in the Earth's northern temperate zone.
Hundreds of species of mammals, birds, fish, and reptiles have been documented, including several that are either endangered or threatened. The vast forests and grasslands also include unique species of plants. Yellowstone Park is the largest and most famous megafauna location in the Continental United States. Grizzly bears, wolves, and free-ranging herds of bison and elk live in the park. The Yellowstone Park bison herd is the oldest and largest public bison herd in the United States. Forest fires occur in the park each year; in the large forest fires of 1988, nearly one third of the park was burnt. Yellowstone has numerous recreational opportunities, including hiking, camping, boating, fishing and sightseeing. Paved roads provide close access to the major geothermal areas as well as some of the lakes and waterfalls. During the winter, visitors often access the park by way of guided tours that use either snow coaches or snowmobiles. 
Behind President's portrait is The Grand Prismatic Spring.
The Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park is the largest hot spring in the United States, and the third largest in the world, after Frying Pan Lake in New Zealand and Boiling Lake in Dominica. It is located in the Midway Geyser Basin.
Grand Prismatic Spring was noted by geologists working in the Hayden Geological Survey of 1871, and named by them for its striking coloration. Its colors match the rainbow dispersion of white light by an optical prism: red, orange, yellow, green, and blue.
The first records of the spring are from early European explorers and surveyors. In 1839, a group of fur trappers from the American Fur Company crossed the Midway Geyser Basin and made note of a "boiling lake", most likely the Grand Prismatic Spring, with a diameter of 300 feet (90 m.). In 1870 the Washburn–Langford–Doane Expedition visited the spring, noting a 50-foot (15 m.) geyser nearby (later named Excelsior).
The vivid colors in the spring are the result of microbial mats around the edges of the mineral-rich water. The mats produce colors ranging from green to red; the amount of color in the microbial mats depends on the ratio of chlorophyll to carotenoids and on the temperature gradient in the runoff. In the summer, the mats tend to be orange and red, whereas in the winter the mats are usually dark green. The center of the pool is sterile due to extreme heat.
The deep blue color of the water in the center of the pool results from the intrinsic blue color of water. The effect is strongest in the center of the spring, because of its sterility and depth.
The spring is approximately 370 feet (110 m.) in diameter and is 160 feet (50 m.) deep. The spring discharges an estimated 560 US gallons (2,100 L.) of 160 °F (70 °C.) water per minute.
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On left side is The Castle Geyser.
Castle Geyser is a cone geyser in the Upper Geyser Basin of Yellowstone National Park. It is noted for the particularly large geyserite sinter deposits, which form its cone. These deposits have been likened in appearance to a castle.
When the geyser was given this name in 1870, the top edges of the structure resembled the typical profile associated with the modern concept of a castle, having the appearance of a large keep, multiple turrets, and especially because of the crenellation along the top edges of what resembled its towers. As the drawing below shows the cone had distinctive appearance at the time. Over time the cone's shape changes because of the layers of mineral deposited in successive eruptions.
On September 18, 1870, the Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition entered the Upper Geyser Basin. Eventually, members of the expedition named seven geysers they observed in the basin. The appearance of this geyser led Lieutenant Gustavus Cheyney Doane to name it Castle Geyser. Nathaniel P. Langford gave this account in his 1871 Scribner's article:
"The Castle," situated on the summit of an incrusted mound, has a turreted crater through which a large volume of water is expelled at intervals of two or three hours to the height of 50 feet (15 m.), from a discharging orifice about three feet (0.91 m.) in diameter. The architectural features of the silicious sinter surrounding it, which is very massive and compact, indicating that at some former period the flow of water must have been much greater than at present, suggested its name. A vent near it is constantly discharging a large stream of boiling water, and when the geyser is in action the water in this vent boils and bubbles with great fierceness.
The Castle Geyser has a 10- to 12-hour eruption cycle. The geyser erupts hot water for about 20 minutes in a vertical column that reaches a height of 90 ft. (27 m.) before changing to a noisy steam phase that issues for 30 to 40 minutes.
The sinter cone for Castle Geyser has been dated to around 1022 using carbon-14 dating. This date is much younger than the originally-presumed age of 5,000 to 15,000 years. A 3-D laser scan made of the cone reveals evidence that this geyser has evolved through four to five distinct stages to reach its current configuration.
In November 2002, the Denali earthquake in Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska caused Castle Geyser, as well as other geysers in Yellowstone, to decrease in eruption frequency. The affected geysers have returned to their previous pattern since that time, however.
Denominations in numerals are in all corners. In words lower.
Revers:
The engraving on banknote is made after the painting by John Trumbull, 1817-1819.
John Trumbull's Declaration of Independence is a 12-by-18-foot oil-on-canvas painting in the United States Capitol Rotunda that depicts the presentation of the draft of the Declaration of Independence to Congress. It was based on a much smaller version of the same scene, presently held by the Yale University Art Gallery. Trumbull painted many of the figures in the picture from life and visited Independence Hall as well to depict the chamber where the Second Continental Congress met. The oil-on-canvas work was commissioned in 1817, purchased in 1819, and placed in the rotunda in 1826.
The painting is sometimes incorrectly described as the signing of the Declaration of Independence. In fact, the painting actually shows the five-man drafting committee presenting their draft of the Declaration to the Congress, an event that took place on June 28, 1776, and not the signing of the document, which took place later.
The painting shows 42 of the 56 signers of the Declaration; Trumbull originally intended to include all 56 signers, but was unable to obtain likenesses for all of them. He also decided to depict several participants in the debate who did not sign the document, including John Dickinson, who declined to sign. Trumbull also had no portrait of Benjamin Harrison V to work with; son Benjamin Harrison VI was said to have resembled his father, so he was painted instead. Because the Declaration was debated and signed over a period of time when membership in Congress changed, the men in the painting had never all been in the same room at the same time.
Thomas Jefferson seems to be stepping on the foot of John Adams in the painting, which many think is supposed to symbolize their relationship as political enemies. However, upon closer examination of the painting, it can be seen that their feet are merely close together. This part of the image was correctly depicted on the two-dollar bill version.
An inscription: "In God we trust" is at the bottom.
"In God We Trust" is the official motto of the United States. It was adopted as the nation's motto in 1956 as an alternative or replacement to the unofficial motto of E pluribus unum, which was adopted when the Great Seal of the United States was created and adopted in 1782. Many people have expressed objections to its use, and have sought to have the religious reference removed from the currency, claiming that it violates the First Amendment.
"In God we trust" first appeared on U.S. coins in 1864 and has appeared on paper currency since 1957. A law passed in a Joint Resolution by the 84th Congress (P.L. 84-140) and approved by President Dwight Eisenhower on July 30, 1956 declared "IN GOD WE TRUST" must appear on currency. This phrase was first used on paper money in 1957, when it appeared on the one-dollar silver certificate. The first paper currency bearing the phrase entered circulation on October 1, 1957.
Denominations in numerals are in all corners. In words on right and left sides and in lower corners.
Comments:
Banknote issued in circulation by the branch of Federal Reserve in Chicago, IL.
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