[Geysers] Quick report, July 27

[Tara Cross]

This will be a brief report just to pass along a few notes.

I do not know if it had anything to do with the earthquake, but on the 26th 
Little Anemone was observed having longer durations (one was timed at 26 
minutes) and Big Anemone was having strong eruptions from a low pool.  The 
runoff around it had dried up except for the channel directly in front of 
the vent.

Plume remains dormant.  David Goldberg and Karen Low reported that they were 
on Geyser Hill for a few hours after the earthquake and did not see Plume.  
I don't think it's a huge stretch to conjecture that the dormancy is related 
to the earthquake, though I suppose the electronic record will give us a 
better idea.

Daisy's short intervals lasted all of one day.  It was back to the usual 
today.  Ben Hoppe reported seeing the Main Vent of Splendid boiling to 2-3 
feet on the 26th.

I do not have much to add to Scott's report about the bizarre Fan & Mortar 
eruption on the 26th since I was on Geyser Hill for the first calls and saw 
the start from Chromatic Pool.  After much discussion amongst various 
gazers, it was concluded that River started sometime shortly before 1409, 
since Paul Strasser remembers hearing Rift called at that time while he was 
still at Fan & Mortar and River Vent, along with Gold and a continuous 
Angle, were on.  The first call of High Vent erupting steadily to 2-3 feet 
was at 1433, and High Vent went into lock at 1435.  The other vents joined 
in several minutes later.

These events were truly bizarre, particularly for a time when Fan & Mortar 
have been in full summer mode.  Since the reactivation, I have personally 
observed one eruption cycle that included zero events.  This occurred on 
April 20, 2002 and I chalked it up to "spring mode" behavior, since it did 
something similar again two eruptions later on May 5.  At the time the 
wisdom was that if the water levels stayed high after Frying Pan came on, 
there was a chance for Fan & Mortar to erupt.  If Frying Pan was involved in 
the cycle on the 26th, no one reported it.

Finally, each of the past 3 Grotto marathons has been followed by a strong 
Giant hot period.  These were:

July 22 @ 0434, d=14m55s.  It was difficult to see through the steam but it 
appeared that Mastiff surged to as much as 4 feet and India was completely 
covered.  When Mastiff dropped Feather stayed on.  Feather Satellite came 
back but then died about 12 minutes into the hot period, after which time 
Feather stayed on but was not steady.  Vertical surging in Giant was 
consistent but only reached about 1/3 of the way up the cone.  Turtle was 
erupted to 2-3 feet.

July 25 @ 0604, d~16m.  Mastiff surging was consistent throughout the first 
10 minutes of the hot period and peaked at around 4 feet.  Again Feather 
stayed on but Satellite died after about 2 minutes.  Vertical surging in 
Giant was better this time, with stronger surges to about 1/2-way up the 
cone and some more angled surges to the top of the cone.  Turtle erupted to 
a full 8 feet.

July 27 @ 2108, d=10m30s.  Mastiff surging peaked at 4 feet.  Feather 
stopped for 20-30 seconds and then came back for a very strong restart.  
Vertical surging in Giant was very good, reaching 1/2-way up the cone.  
Turtle erupted to about 2 feet.

--Tara Cross
fanandmortar at hotmail.com