[Geysers] Closing Weekend Report: Fan & Mortar and more!

[Tara Cross]

A message from Tara Cross <fanandmortar at hotmail.com> 11/7/04

Here are a few notes from closing weekend in Yellowstone.  After several 
weeks of snow, wind, and cold, during which the only qualitative difference 
between October and winter was that I could drive my car to the Hams parking 
lot, the weather finally improved last week and by Thursday it was sunny and 
warmer.  Kind of bizarre to think that our November weather was better than 
the majority of our October weather, but I'll take whatever I can get.  I 
was also pleased that the turn for the better allowed a number of gazers to 
come in and enjoy a lovely closing weekend.

Here are a few notes on geyser activity over the past few days:

Little Squirt was seen at 1311ie on the 11/5.

Once again, I will list the known Beehive eruptions:

November 4:  1000ie, 2221ie (probably; Kitt wasn't 100% sure)
November 5:  2131 (Indicator 2121ie)
November 6:  1301 (Indicator 1249ns)
November 7:  not seen during daylight hours

By the way, I completely forgot to mention in my last post that Beehive's 
Close-to-Cone Indicator has been active since 10/26 (and possibly earlier).  
>From what I have been able to piece together from various data points, the 
Close-to-Cone Indicator comes up and begins to bubble and overflow, then 
slowly builds into a very small eruption that gains in height to a foot or 
so.  Though I have not timed it exactly, this behavior probably begins 6-7 
hours prior to Beehive.  When Beehive's Indicator starts, the Close-to-Cone 
indicator gets stronger until it reaches a maximum height of 2-3 feet during 
Beehive's eruption.  This behavior might in part account for the shorter 
Indicators we've been having recently.

Sparse closed intervals on Aurum have been 4-5 hours.

Though Penta did not manage to erupt in spite of some promising Tardy 
cycles, Churn did have two series on 11/7.  Eruptions were seen at 1212, 
1227, 1523, 1535, and 1557.  These are the first that I can recall in at 
least two months.

Grand continues as usual.  Rift continues to have a noticeable effect on 
Grand's interval when it starts during Grand's window.  Grand also continues 
to have a lot of Grand-initiated eruptions (including one this morning that 
scared the bejeezus out of Suzanne!).

Oblong pleased eager audiences of Oblophiles this weekend with several nice 
eruptions.  Closed intervals have been 5h56m and 4h31m.

Giant.  Sigh.  Even with more gazers to cover Giant over the weekend 
(thanks, everyone!), we were still not rewarded with particularly 
encouraging activity.  Stronger hot periods are not occurring any more 
frequently than every 10-12 hours, and these have ranged from 7-9 minutes 
long with Mastiff surging to a maximum of 4 feet (usually 1-2 feet).  
Mastiff has been putting out a good amount of discharge (India 80-100% 
covered), for whatever that's worth.  It is my conjecture that Giant "reset" 
itself after the "stupendous" 16-minute hot period on 10/29.

Daisy continued its pattern of varying its intervals, but remaining mostly 
regular on any given day.  On 11/6, intervals were 3-3.5 hours; on 11/7, 
they were right around 2h20m.

Okay, now for the fun part.  On 11/6, many of us were awakened by a call 
from Kitt saying that Fan and Mortar had not erupted overnight.  Joy!  Then, 
she called that Bottom Vent was erupting and Main Vent was splashing at 
0726.  Aaaack, time to get out of bed!  By the time I arrived, the minor 
vents were on and water levels didn't look that great.  But I did notice two 
things that were very different from event cycles seen up until October 25:  
Frying Pan was active, and Upper Mortar managed several small surges.  I 
hadn't seen either of these behaviors since August.

Water was seen in Main Vent again at 1016, but it quickly tapered off after 
only 3 visible splashes.  Grand and Beehive pulled gazers away from Fan & 
Mortar for about an hour between 1230 and 1330.  When we returned, Main Vent 
was puffing.  Events transpired as follows:

1339 Main Vent splash
1346 Bottom Vent #1 (d=2m05s)
1350 River Vent on
1350 Bottom Vent #2 (d~32m)
1355 River Vent off for a River pause (another novel occurrence!)
1418 River Vent on, followed within a few seconds by Gold
1422 Angle Vent on
1423 Frying Pan on
1430 Upper Mortar splash--actually, a loud "boom" to remind us why it's 
named Mortar
1433 High Vent in lock, joined within the next minute by Gold and Angle
1435 Upper Mortar surge
1436 Fan and Mortar

Water levels were actually not that great in the minor vents until about 10 
minutes after River started.  Then they started to improve, and by the first 
Upper Mortar surge they looked very good.  We were all encouraged to see 
water in Upper Mortar after only 12 minutes.  Water levels continued to look 
great until High Vent went into "lock" at the 15-minute mark.  Upper Mortar 
surging progressed at about a surge a minute; then quite suddenly at 1435 it 
had a monstrous surge about 5 feet above the top of the cone.  The surge 
resembled the initiating surge of so many Upper Mortar initiated starts in 
2001.  The start was only 18 minutes after River.  Main Vent preceeded East 
Vent by a few seconds.

The viewing conditions were GREAT.  The geysers were backlit by a low 
November sun and both Mortar and Fan were very strong.  The wind was blowing 
mostly towards the picnic table, allowing excellent viewing from the jugwalk 
for most of the eruption.  The only people present were geyser gazers, all 
delighted of course.  I couldn't have asked for better for my 50th Fan and 
Mortar.

There were once again few reports from the Lower Geyser Basin, though 
Firehole Lake Drive was open for closing weekend.  I think one closed 
interval for Great Fountain was around 14 hours.  Most gazers stayed in the 
Upper Basin to keep an eye on Giant and Fan & Mortar.

'Twas great to see everyone for closing weekend.  I hope everyone had a safe 
trip home!

--Tara Cross
fanandmortar at hotmail.com

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