[Geysers] Geyser Report, October 10 (Stephens)

[lynn stephens]

THIS MESSAGE IS FOR THE PERSONAL USE OF THE READERS OF THIS LISTSERV AND MAY NOT BE REPRODUCED FOR ANY OTHER REASON WITHOUT WRITTEN CONSENT FROM THE AUTHOR. 

18:00 10/10/05

This morning started out wonderfully.  As I was walking up to Grand, I noted that West Triplet was ie.  As I carefully negotiated the jugwalk toward Beauty, I noted that Solstice was ie (as it has been every time someone has looked at it except the morning Steve Robinson caught it having intermittent stops and starts).  Beauty is still in overflow under the boardwalk, but not out the north channel, and Chromatic has no overflow.  Bijou was active.  So I turned around to go back to Grand.  

As I was arriving at Grand, Rift started at 07:49.  Turban started at 07:52:50, and Grand followed almost exactly a minute later at 07:53:49.  The top two-thirds of Grand's steam cloud was golden in the sun.  Vent joined in at 07:56:00.

Grand stopped at 08:01:49--exactly 8 minutes into the eruption.  So far I haven't seen a one-burst eruption that short and sure enough, after a 38 second pause, Grand's second burst rocketed skyward.  The second burst lasted 53 seconds.  At this point we were 10 minutes 31 seconds into the eruption.  After yesterday's 8m45s two-burst eruption, I thought Grand's eruption was finally finished.  I couldn't see water around the sides of Grand's pool., and after about 45 seconds I started to write T2, when what to my wondering eyes should appear, but another burst from Grand's pool.  It wasn't as large as the second burst, but it was a THIRD burst.  The pause between the end of the second and the start of the third was 50 seconds.  The third burst lasted 48 seconds.  Vent and Turban quit immediately.

Grand's eruption this afternoon at 14:45 was a G1C.

After Grand I went down to the Grotto/Giant area.  (Grotto's) Marathon Pool has filled to about 2 inches below the lip.  Spa was full.  Bijou started pausing at 9:32.  Grotto turned on at 10:03, preceded by Grotto Fountain at 10:01.  This Grotto lasted about 1 hour 11 minutes.  Grotto was ie at 16:07, probably no more than 10-20 minutes after the start.  This Grotto eruption shut off about 17:15.

Giant hot periods today:  10:15 d = 2m39s; 11:54, d = 4m20s; 14:07, d = 7m58s (Steve called this hot period and noted Cave burbling 1-2 inches high), 16:05ie (per Rocco--all I saw were the southwest vents still erupting after Feather had shut off).  None of the hot periods had any impressive activity.  As Steve said about the 11:54 hot period "India's safe" referring to the fact that Mastiff runoff didn't come close to it.

After the 11:54 Grotto hot period, I (fortuitously) went to the parking lot to fix lunch.  I saw Beehive start at 12:28 with no Indicator preceding the eruption.  The Indicator did start about 2 1/2 minutes after Beehive started and lasted less than 1 1/2 minutes.

The only Oblong reported today was at 14:44.  We were all staring at Oblong waiting to see water too confirm that it was in eruption.  I had just keyed the mike on my radio to call Oblong when Grand's eruption startled me and I announced, "Oh, Grand 1445, Grand 1445, and also Oblong 14:44."

>From Giant's platform, I saw Riverside's steam cloud go up at 10:27.  I went down to watch this afternoon's eruption at 17:00 in bright sunlight with blue sky and an intense rainbow in the steam cloud.

(Yes, Fan & Mortar markers are still in place.)

Artemisia is still active; 16:07ie this afternoon.

Castle did have a minor yesterday afternoon at 17:02.  Electronic monitor showed another minor at 20:09; then a major at 01:43.  I decided to try to photograph Castle with rainbows this afternoon, so was sitting there when it did a 4 minute minor at 15:56--barely enough time to record the eruption, call it on the radio, get the camera out and try to find an angle with the rainbow but without people, so I didn't take many pictures after all.

Great Fountain did a "jump-shift" yesterday, moving off the mid-afternoon slot.  Steve had it ie yesterday morning driving in from West Yellowstone about 10 am.  There was a visitor report that it was ie at 08:15 this morning.

Weather:  Crisp, cold morning with lots of stars visible, and the Big Dipper upside down in the sky.  I loaded some boxes into the pickup this morning.  In preparation, I had taken out most of the boxes last night and put them into the trailer.  When I took the first box out this morning, I let the trailer door slam behind me.  I was quite dismayed to discover that I had forgotten to turn the little knob, the door was locked with me on the outside in a short-sleeve shirt, long pants, and open toe sandals.  My first thought--get the spare set of keys from the box in the back of the pickup.  My second thought--oh dear, all the boxes are inside the trailer, so that means the spare set of keys is also inside the trailer.  My third thought--who am I going to wake up at 5:30 in the morning.  Then I thought, the box with the spare set is small, maybe it's the one box I left it in the pickup.  Thankfully, that was the one box still in the back of the pickup so I was able to let mysel
 f back in where it was warm.

There wasn't much geyser fog this morning; the entire basin was never socked in.  I did have to shake ice off the sack that sits on top of my bicycle seat.  After the sun rose, the temperature was reasonable, except when a steam cloud blocked out the sun.  All in all, it was a nice, Indian summer day with nary a cloud in the sky.

Wildlife:  There are two flocks of mallard ducks in the Upper Basin.  It seems strange to hear quacking in the morning instead of honking.

Visitor Comment:  There aren't many visitors around. I did encounter one family this evening that was quite upset because there was no lodging available here in the Park.  So there were way too many visitors in that family's opinion.

Lynn Stephens 
 
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