[Geysers] Upper Geyser Basin 10/12 - 10/15

[Polly Panos]

Hello!  I was in the Upper Geyser Basin Oct. 12-15.  There were not many gazers there on Thursday, but more came in on Friday and Saturday.  Some of the times were mine, some are from the log book, and some were called by other gazers.  

>From the log book for Oct. 11
    Grotto 0855 ie (I believe that this became a marathon)
    Oblong 1535
    Grand 0713e & 1609
    Beehive 0420 ie

Thursday, Oct. 12
    Grand 0025 e and 1457 (T2C)  (I believe that there was also an eruption at about sunrise.)
    Lion 1009ie and 1134
    Oblong 1025ns and 1512ie
    Grotto Fountain was ie at 1032 and off at 1051
    South Grotto Fountain was ie at 1037 and off at 1052
    Grotto Fountain again at 1333ns and off at 1348
    South Grotto Fountain again was ie at 1334 and off at 1349
    Grotto 1343  (Grotto was still ie at 1825.)  
        Spa was also high and bubbling at 1825.
    Riverside 1202ie and 1830ns
    Daisy 1243ie and 1506
    Beehive 1705ie

    Giant Hot Periods
        0943 d~3m

        Feather was ie @ 1100, with Feather Satellite, SWVents and Rust.  
            Rust off @ 1102.  Catfish on @ 1103.  Bijou on @ 1104  
            d~3 1/2 m

        Bijou pause @ 1159, on at 1201
        1209 Bijou pause & Feather on at 1211
            Feather Satellite and SWVents joined in shortly thereafter.
            Rust on @ approx 1m45s in, but was of short duration.
            Catfish on @ approx 2m45s in and off at approx 3m10s in.
            1215 Feather off & 1216 Bijou on.  
            d~4m

        1312 Bijou pause & 1313 water visible in Mastiff
            1314 Feather on, with Rust & SWVents joining in
            about 1 m in we had weak overflow of Mastiff
            Mastiff dropped at about 2 m in
            1317 Feather off.  d~3m

        1419 Bijou pause & 1420 water visible in Mastiff
            1421 Feather on.  About 30 s later SWVents on.
            About 1m34s in Rust on.
            About 4 m in Mastiff still visible.
            About 4m20s in Catfish on & 1426 Feather off.
            d=4m48s

        1544 Bijou pause & 1545 water visible in Mastiff
            1547 Mastiff close to overflow
            1548 Feather on, joined about 50s later by SWVents.
            1549 Feather off
            d=1m28s

        1701 Bijou pause - back on @ 1703
        1720 Bijou pause, water in Mastiff rising slowly
        1726 Feather on, joined by SWVents on for a few seconds.
            1729 Catfish on, Mastiff dropping
            1729 Feather off
            d=2m36s

Friday the 13th!

    Grand 0658e & 11542 (T1Q)
        Turban started with a spike up to the boulders at the base of the trees.
        Vent was higher than the trees, and at one time was higher than Grand.
    Oblong 0926 & 1337 & 1757
    Aurum 1058
    Daisy 1119ns & 1442ie & 1816
    Beehive 1234
    Riverside 1400
    Grotto Fountain 1902 with no Grotto
    Plume 1906

    Giant Hot Periods
        1317 Feather on, with Rust and Feather Satellite joining.
            @ 1m in SWVents on
            d =9m 20s
            
        1623 d~2m?

        1835, with Feather, Feather Satellite
            SWVents on approx 1m in
            Rust on approx 2m in, then Catfish
            1841 Feather off

Saturday, October 14
    Kitt has already reported most of the items, so I'll just elaborate on a couple of them.

    Giant Hot Periods
        0902 Feather on, joined by Feather Satellite, SWVents, & Rust.
            This hot period was different than the ones on Thursday &
            Friday in that Mastiff remained at or above overflow for the
            duration.  We saw no surging in Mastiff (but we could have
            missed some because it was steamy).
            d~9m

        1037 d 2m

        1216 Bathtub

        About an hour and a half later the platform shut down due to Grotto Marathon.

    I saw the Great Fountain start at 1525.  The first burst was nice and high, but no super burst.  I watched the first 4 bursts, which still had good height to them.  Then I left.  I found out later that it was the start of a wild phase eruption.

Sunday, October 15
    Again, Kitt has reported on most items.
    I observed Oblong from 1300-1310 or so.  Some of the other Oblongs that I had observed this week had had a strong push at about the 3 hour mark.  But today it stayed just below overflow (with a little overflow for a just a few seconds), neither rising nor falling for about 10 minutes.  It finally started to drop a little, so I walked to the monkey cage as Kitt came around the bend from Grotto.  The hot period started shortly after that.  Kitt and I were worried that it was too soon after the Grotto stop, but hoped for the best.  Mastiff was 1-4 feet for most of the hot period, as we strained to see it through the steam.  Giant had occasional vertical water.  When Mastiff erupted at 1326, it was slanted by a heavy wind.  It paused, but erupted again at 1328, although not as high.  And then Giant at 1329!!!

I waited for last water at Giant, then walked up.  A nice surprise was the Beehive Indicator call at 1518ie, with Beehive at 1524.  It was the one large geyser that I had not seen this trip, so it was a fitting end to the weekend.

Oh, my brother Bob Partner e-mailed me about a swarm of small earthquakes 7-8 miles NW of Old Faithful which began on October 14.  Check at 
http://www.seis.utah.edu/req2webdir/recenteqs/Maps/111-44_full.html
I counted 58 so far.

See you in the spring!
Polly Panos

pollypanos at earthlink.net
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