[Geysers] Opal, the webcam and other things

[carolyn loren]

On a rare trip towards West Yellowstone on Feb. 14, I walked Midway and saw 
Opal without any visible water and without any overflow from Grand 
Prismatic.  The whole back half of Opal's crater was snow covered.

An observant guide reported that the boardwalk by Green Spring was very icy 
on Feb. 11, and had not been on Feb. 9...  If there was a marker there, let 
me know the details.

Apparently I saw one of the few recent eruptions of Plate, 1600 i.e. on Feb. 
15.  David Goldberg just downloaded some loggers on Geyser Hill, and some 
interesting electronic times are:

       Feb. 13:  Boardwalk 2136
                     Plate        2247

       Feb. 14:   Plate        0801

       Feb. 15:   Plate       0920
                     Plate        1557

It looked like Plume was dormant for about a full day on Feb. 11.  (Today, 
Feb. 16, we're having approximate 70 minute intervals.)

David also saw Morning's Thief erupting to 25 to 35+ feet about a minute 
into Fountain's 1246 Feb. 9 eruption, and a guide reported today 10 to 15 
foot bursts from what appeared to be the middle of Morning on Feb. 14, also 
in tandem with a Fountain eruption.

As for the webcam, apparently for Homeland Security reasons two things must 
occur before it can be reconnected to the NPS server.  The Yellowstone 
webmaster must get a new password (easy), and a new camera must be purchased 
that will accept passwords (not so easy).  That's why we're stuck at Feb. 15 
with a 1015 predictiion.  Bummer.


Carolyn/OFVC