[Geysers] Giant - Sunday

[Paul Strasser]

Part 3 of 3.

 

Sunday.  Cloudy and cool after two spectacular weather days. At 0600 I
radioed on a whim to see if anyone was in the basin, and Diane(?  Sorry -
from Santa Rosa, and think that's her name) was already at Giant.  Responses
to my questions made me realize A) Grotto had a marathon, and B) It had quit
around 0430.  Ah, Suzanne said.  “Giant, take two.”

 

We got down there quickly. The GIP was again extraordinarily high, similar
to early afternoon the day before.  Gazers (those who hadn't had to leave)
were apprised of the situation as they arrived in the area and hurried to
the cage. At 0806 I saw water low in Mastiff's crater, appearing for a
moment or two and dropping.  At this point I created a new set of
abbreviations for my notebook:  MWL, MWM, and MWH - indicating whether the
Mastiff water was low, medium, or high.  At first the rises came every 25
minutes or so, but around 0904 they started coming faster, and higher.
Oblong erupted at 0946, and Julie said that maybe Giant would do something
in an hour or so.  Heh.

 

MWH's first appeared at 0931, and by 1000 rises were occurring every 5-6
minutes.  The GIP was going through the same dance, in fact a few gazers
just watched from the GIP because its rise/fall was intriguing - and the
fact that the trees blocked some of the wind. 

 

At 1026 there was the highest MWH yet, within bare inches of Mastiff
overflow.  But when it dropped, Bijou came on powerfully, and the next rise
took all of 16 minutes and was equally high.  The next rise, at 1047 was
even higher and we saw Feather begin to overflow.

 

Feather took off, and Feather's satellite joined almost immediately.
Nothing else, except for low surging in Mastiff.  But quickly Mastiff
dropped and Bijou came to life.  

 

For nearly 23 minutes nothing of interest happened.  Just these three vents
playing, sometimes dropping slightly, sometimes rising slightly.  Sometimes
a splash from Giant or one of the vents of Mastiff, but for the most part,
just the incessant B, F, and FS.

 

Somewhere around the 12 minute mark it really began to get annoying.  Yes,
it was interesting and even longer than the Mastiff solo predecessor
activity of the day before.  But you're staring at this same thing for a
time span basically equal to half of a "24" episode, and a lot less
interesting.  I called out the activity each minute on the radio, with
basically no variation each time.  I noted at the 18 minute mark or so that
this might be the longest hot period ever.  Fireworks were lit to celebrate
the 20 minute mark, and a marching band was hired for minute 21.  

 

But then a difference! Around the 22m15s mark, Mastiff rose!  Bijou quit.
We were anticipating another Mastiff solo, or something equally bizarre.  

 

And Mastiff promptly dropped. Bijou came on, and Feather and its satellite
waned.  It took nearly 2 minutes for them to give up, utterly exhausted.
Total duration was 24m 42s.  The crowd was... dejected?  Baffled?  Who knows
- it was a totally odd vibe.  We talked of maybe another hot period in a few
hours, maybe going to Grand.  I had absolutely no idea what just happened,
or would happen next, but told Suzanne, Lynne and others that I was NOT
leaving the cage for a while.  A few wandered over to Grotto to see if it
was close to erupting.

 

It's then that I wrote "Insane" in my logbook.  Nobody argued.

 

About 8 minutes later I noticed that the splashes in Mastiff were more
consistent with pre-hot period activity than post-hot period play.  I stood
up, puzzled, and clambered up to stand on the railing behind the bench.
Whuh?  “I think I see water,” I called.  “Maybe steam?  No
 water.”  At that
moment Suzanne called out that Bijou was almost off.  I called over to the
people at the GIP, asking what it was doing.  “It’s rising – fast,” they
yelled back.  I then got on the radio:  “Mastiff is rising.  I’m not joking.
Mastiff is rising.”  You could immediately hear shouts and the clomping of
many feet on the jugwalk, racing back to the cage.  Feather and Feather’s
satellite started, almost simultaneously, and the SW vents were steaming and
about to start.  Hot period
 but a new one?  Certainly not afterplay.  Was
the first activity even a hot period?

 

The next ten minutes constituted one of the oddest geyser gazing experiences
in my life. Yes, it ended joyously.  But the weirdness stays with me more
than the ending. Within moments of the start of the hot period, Mastiff was
surging to 2 feet, then 4.  I dutifully called these on the radio, and when
it hit the top of the cone I dutifully called this as well.  But after
yesterday’s events my emotions were fully in check.  Suzanne even said I was
pretty blasé about it.  Then Mastiff dropped.  30 seconds later, Mastiff
rose again.  Then it dropped. I looked at KC, who was almost lounging on the
bench, and shrugged.  Neither of us was getting excited.  Again Mastiff rose
and surged, again it dropped back.  At least its pool remained full and
overflowing between these surges.

  

Then Bijou began playing while Mastiff’s pool remained full, and Catfish
joined in.  Once again, Mastiff rose, but this time only to about six feet.
Another pause, more quiet pool.  Mastiff surged to the height of the cone.
Again I called it out.  I noted on the radio that everything on the platform
is erupting, except Giant.  In fact, Giant was basically sitting there, with
only an occasional splash as accompaniment. 

 

This was a bit ridiculous.  One of the great moments in gazing is that
moment (I called it “the lock” in the case of Fan and Mortar) when you just
KNOW that a large, rare geyser is about to erupt.  In the case of Giant, the
similar “lock” was Mastiff surging higher the cone. Well, I’d seen it about
five times in the last day – four times in the last few minutes - plus a
full-bore Mastiff eruption.  

 

Yet again, Mastiff was to the height of the cone.  I radioed:  “Mastiff is
to the height of the cone
 again.”  It sounded like Forrest Gump: “Ah went
to the White House
 again.  I saw the president
 again.”

 

Again Mastiff dropped, but again it remained full.  And again it played to
the height of the cone
 but this time it was different.  The column was
thicker, sounded louder.  I called, “This one looks good
”  The surging grew
in force quickly and was quickly far higher than the cone.  Several jetting
bursts were to 20 feet, and an eruption was on.  

 

Again.

 

Mastiff’s back vent began surging, and within seconds both were considerably
higher than the solo eruption the previous day. I made the pilgrimage to the
main jugwalk to video the entire scene, lost my hat to the wind, and saw
Giant have a heavy surge in its cone.  I allowed myself to think that it was
really going to erupt this time. The noise from the platform almost drowned
out the shouts of the onlookers and I ran back to the platform (as many who
were there ran AWAY) to see Bijou pounding and Mastiff almost roaring.
Several huge bursts from Giant and it erupted.

 

As others noted, it wasn’t an especially tall eruption.  The wind might have
had a lot to do with it, but it was plenty tall nonetheless.  With the wind
I could stand in the right front corner of the platform and have the whole
water column appear like a giant sheet in front of me, pushed left-to-right
by the wind.  

 

A few minutes in and Catfish was playing lustily also.  We even noted that
Mastiff continued for at least five minutes into Giant’s eruption, albeit to
a height of 15 feet or so.  Giant’s total duration was 85 minutes, but from
about the 50 minute mark on its play was greatly diminished.

 

What to make of this?

 

Dave Goldberg suggested that we can create a rule:  once Mastiff intervals
decrease to 19 hours, Giant will erupt.  Well, odder theories have been
proffered with less data to support them.  Or, if Feather and Feather’s
satellite play for over 24 minutes an eruption will take place of Giant.

 

Clearly, the platform was in a huge Mastiff function.  The energy was so far
over to the Mastiff side I expected a new vent to break out to the north of
the platform in the river.  The water levels were extraordinarily high (both
in the GIP and Mastiff, which is pretty much the same thing).  Not only
higher than I’ve ever seen them, but remaining in this high state for
basically the entire weekend. 

 

Big Question:  How frequently is Giant erupting?  At first, there were
rumors that the signs hadn’t been replaced after the 4/13 eruption, so the
reports of something between the 17th and 19th might simply being the result
of seeing the signs still down.  But Carolyn told me that she had indeed
replaced the signs after the 4/13 eruption.

 

Not only that, she said, but the signs were also replaced on the 19th!  

 

What happened between the times on the 19th when the signs were returned to
their position on the platform, and the morning of the 21st, when the signs
were down on the sinter flat yet again, with Bijou/Mastiff/GIP performing so
well?

 

This was astonishing to me, and perplexing.  When we saw Giant on the 21st
(Friday) it looked fully set to erupt.  None of this “first hot period was
only 5-6 days after the eruption.”  It was more like “Ready to erupt 48
hours later.”

 

A couple of possibilities:  1) Super-short intervals – eruption on the 13th,
another on the 17th, another overnight 19th-20th, another on the 23rd, and
very fast recoveries.  2) Practical joke – somebody knocking the signs down
for kicks.  Based on the fact that the park was closed except to employees,
I don’t think this is likely.  3) Other activity on the platform rather than
a Giant eruption.  The problem with this is the fact that the signs that
moved each time were the Giant sign and the nearby “Dangerous Ground” sign
rather than the Mastiff, Catfish, or Bijou signs.  If, let’s say, Mastiff
had other solo eruptions it would make more sense that the Mastiff sign
rather than those on the far right would be dislodged.  However, the Giant
and Dangerous Ground signs are precariously balanced to act as indicators of
activity; the Mastiff sign is not in such a teetering location.  Before this
weekend the thought of a Mastiff solo dislodging the signs would have been
extremely far-fetched.  Of course, that was before this weekend.

 

Was I delighted to see Giant erupt?  Absolutely.  But it was truly strange –
so strange that the build-up of excitement that I’ve felt in the past wasn’t
quite there.  I kept expecting Mastiff to stop.  Again.  And I don’t care
how interesting it sounds, but watching Bijou, Feather, and Feather’s
satellite erupt for 10 minutes one day (and no eruption) followed by nearly
25 minutes of similar activity the next day is not fun.  It was bizarre,
odd, bemusing, and worthy of much talk among the gazers, both then and now.

 

For those watching Giant for the next few weeks I am both happy for you and
pitying you.

 

Paul S.

 

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