[Geysers] July 3 Giant details - Part 1

[Tara Cross]

A message from Tara Cross <fanandmortar at hotmail.com>

My apologies that this report is more than a week late--I did not have Internet access until I returned home from the park.  I spent a great deal of time in the Giant area starting on June 28, so my report is quite extensive.  I am therefore breaking it into 3 parts.


Part 1 -- Activity at Grotto/Giant, June 27-July 2


June 27

0713 Giant hot period, d~6m.  India 80%.
0719 Oblong
0904 Giant hot period, d~4m.
1026 Giant hot period, d~9m.  Mastiff 5 feet, India 100%
1112 Grotto Fountain
1126 Grotto - marathon, unknown duration (ended overnight)
1152 Giant hot period, d=2m22s.
1221 Oblong
1324 Giant hot period, d=3m40s.
1503 Bathtub

A Grotto marathon had ended at some unknown time overnight.  We weren't absolutely sure, but it is likely that the 0713 hot period was not the first after the end of Grotto.

June 28

0613 Giant hot period, d=9m45s.  M4, India 100%.  Post-marathon hot period.
0854 Oblong
1122 Giant hot period, d=7m02s.  Mastiff 4 feet, India 80%
1354 Oblong
1356 Giant hot period, d=6m44s.  Mastiff 3 feet
1504ie Grotto Fountain
1505 Bathtub
1516 Grotto, d~5m
1600 Giant hot period, d=9m40s.  Mastiff 4 feet, Cave 6 inches
1659 Bathtub
1720 Grotto Fountain
1731 Grotto, d>4h (not a marathon)
1816 Giant hot period, d=2m08s.
1948 Giant hot period, d=1m42s.
2009 Oblong

Based on observations made at Grotto in the early morning hours, and the timing of the post-marathon hot period, Grotto had been off for quite some time when gazers got there at 0500.  Lynn and I were discussing how there really was no logical explanation for how long Grotto was off, so we were watching Giant closely.  I was encouraged by the four strong hot periods throughout the day, but for whatever reason Giant did not manage to erupt.  

We thought the 1731 Grotto would be a marathon--it was still going the last time it was checked at 2130--but it was clear the next morning that it had simply been a rather long non-marathon (duration probably 4.5-5 hours).

June 29

0538 Grotto Fountain
0550 Grotto - marathon, unknown duration (ended overnight)
0631ie Giant hot period
0744 Giant hot period, d=8m12s.  Mastiff 4 feet, India 95%
0910 Bathtub
1102 Oblong

June 30

0711ns Oblong
0728 Giant hot period, d=5m23s.  Post-marathon GHP.
1105 Giant hot period, d=9m25s.  Mastiff 7 feet
1131ns Grotto Fountain, d>30m.
1156 Grotto (took 10 minutes to start)
1207 Giant hot period, d~2m30s.
1327 Oblong
1441 Giant hot period, d=5m09s.  Mastiff 1 foot
1733 Giant hot period, d=2m59s.
1928 Giant hot period, d~8m30s.
2122 Giant hot period, d~3m.
2202 Grotto - marathon

The 0728 post-marathon hot period was disappointingly weak.  Mastiff did not boil much and the runoff got only the outskirts of India damp.  The follow-up hot period at, which came before the next Grotto, was impressive, however.  Mastiff reached 7 feet high within the first 3 minutes, but after the 4-minute mark it did not surge steadily and only reached about 4 feet.

After the hot period, I saw Grotto Fountain near start at 1131.  At 1146, the first spits of water came out the large hole in the back of Grotto's cone.  At 1147 the first small push of overflow came out.  At 1152 there was a bigger surge that increased the overflow slightly.  Finally at 1156 there was a cone-filling surge, but it did not send water shooting out of the holes like usual.  As I described it at the time, Grotto oozed into eruption.  Grotto Fountain ended at 1201 for a duration of at least 30 minutes.  Grotto had a pretty normal duration--I did not write it down, however.

July 1

0619 Oblong
1055ie Oblong
1331 Giant hot period, d=9m06s.  Mastiff 4 feet, India 70%
1542 Oblong
1929 Giant hot period, d=8m48s.  Mastiff 3 feet
2013 Oblong (mid-cycle boiling seen by J. Thomson)
2223ie Grotto (started 2210-2215) - marathon, d~15h

July 2

0603 Oblong
1234 Oblong
~1315 Grotto off
1723 Oblong
1756 Giant hot period, d=9m55s.  Mastiff 3 feet, India 75%

-----

To correct some misinformation that was apparently given to Karen Webb, there were several non-marathon eruptions of Grotto between June 27 and July 3, and these can be seen in the above listing.  I cannot speak for anything prior to June 27, since I was not in the park.  It is true that Grotto was having a lot of marathons, and the eruptions that were not marathons were often abnormal in some way.


--Tara Cross
fanandmortar at hotmail.com
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