[Geysers] Geyser Report, September 9-10

[Tara Cross]

First things first.  Fan and Mortar FINALLY erupted at 1536 on September 9.  
(Some reports may say 1537, this number was later corrected to 1536.)  Karen 
Koka was kind enough to pass along what she saw beforehand:

1420 River Vent on
1422 Gold Vent on
1428 OFF (Gold pause)
1438 Main Vent splashing
1448 Bottom Vent (d~36m)
1521 River Vent on, Gold and Angle followed shortly
1536 Fan & Mortar

According to witnesses, Main Vent splashing was never huge but it was 
consistent during the Bottom Vent eruption.  The Bottom Vent eruption really 
did last 36 minutes--it waned once or twice but was very strong for most of 
the duration.  The water levels in the minor vents apparently dropped 
approximately 10-11 mintues after the start of River and in fact looked so 
bad that several people gave up and left.  Then, the water suddenly came 
back in High and Gold (but not Angle) about a minute before the eruption.  
The vents progressed from dead to good water to "lock" (only High and Gold) 
in about 30 seconds.  "Lock" lasted no longer than 20-30 seconds before East 
Vent shot up with no warning.  East erupted by itself for 10-15 seconds 
before Main Vent joined in, and Mortar did not start erupting until about 2 
minutes into the eruption.

And Giant.  There was a marathon lasting somewhere between 21 and 23 hours 
starting Wednesday morning and ending between 0630 and 0800 on Thursday 
morning.  The recovery hot period was at 1249.  I did not get a duration 
from anyone but apparently there was one small dry patch on India.  The next 
large hot period was at 2119, duration ~9-9.5 minutes (exact duration was 
not known because of heavy steam).  This hot period completely covered India 
and included extended surging in Mastiff (based on sound; Mastiff was not 
visible due to steam and darkness).  Grotto had its first eruption sometime 
overnight.

Events today were as follows:

0756 Giant hot period (d~3m).  Almost no Mastiff runoff.
0849 Grotto start
0935 Giant hot period (d~6m).  Feather Satellite was on and there was decent 
Mastiff overflow but no surging.
1138 Giant hot period (d~8.5m).  Mastiff was overflowing but not surging at 
all until 5 minutes into the hot period.  Then it surged for about 2 1/2 
minutes to 1-3 feet, enough to nearly cover India.
1430 Giant hot period (d~2.5m).  No Mastiff overflow.
1449 Grotto start - this followed about an hour of short eruptions by South 
Grotto Fountain and some activity by the Central Vents.
1609 Giant hot period (d~2m).  No Mastiff overflow.
~1740 bathtub
1856 Giant hot period (d~8.5m).  Again, Mastiff overflowed lightly for about 
5 minutes before it finally started surging.  The surging was mostly 1-2 
feet with occasional surges to 3+ feet.  Overflow picked up, but once again 
there was a dry patch on India.

Other happenings in the basin:

Beehive erupted yesterday at 1837.  Today, water in Beehive's Indicator was 
called only seconds after water in Mastiff at 1137.  The Indicator started 
at 1138 along with the Giant hot period.  Beehive followed at 1152.  
Yesterday, Beehive had a 22-minute Indicator.  Someone asked me today how 
long the Indicators were lasting.  I said, "Could be anything!"

Grand erupted at 0655 (2 bursts) and 1345 (G1Q).  Rift was seen at 1418.

Daisy was all over the place.  It erupted at 0757ns, 1056, 1315ns, and 1739. 
  Yes, that last interval was closed.  Gazers were in the area all 
afternoon.

The lower end of the basin was well-attended, but we were all relieved to 
not be constantly going to Fan & Mortar for the umpteenth event cycle.  Just 
as a note, I have never, ever seen Fan & Mortar have THAT many event cycles 
in any interval I have observed since the reactivation (read: since there 
was such a thing as event cycles).

This morning, clouds blew in and caused great discomfort for those waiting 
on the Hill for Beehive.  By the time Beehive erupted, however, temperatures 
had warmed up considerably and the clouds began to move off.  The rest of 
the day was actually quite pleasant.

The bison are still making life interesting in the basin.  Yesterday, the 
herd was effectively blocking the bike path between Castle and Daisy.  
Today, they were milling around the entry and exit lanes from the overpass 
to the employee crosswalk.  There was also a lone bison grazing around Old 
Faithful.

The Lower Store has changed its hours from 7:30am-6pm (grill closes at 
5:30pm).  They are working on both restrooms at the gas station and 
alternating which side was open.  Geyser Grill hours have also changed; it 
now closes at 8pm.

--Tara Cross

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