[Geysers] GIANT, 9/27 @ 2250

[Tara Cross]

I just received a call from Jeff Cross, who reported that Giant erupted last night (9/27) at 2250.  A quick summary of the details:

Giant had been having mostly weak hot periods all day, durations between 1 and 5 1/2 minutes.  Between hot periods, Mastiff was having powerful depth charging and Bijou came on with steam.  However, as Scott reported, the water levels in the GIP were quite low.  The other strange thing about the day was that Grotto erupted only twice, once at 1613 for about an hour and then another short eruption during Giant.  I asked if Jeff saw anything from South Grotto Fountain and he said that he saw it splashing around dusk, and also Spa had filled to overflow at that time.  This sounded somewhat reminiscent of behavior seen prior to Giant's eruption on July 3.

According to Jeff, he had gone down to check Grotto and Giant and try to see one last hot period before going in for the night.  The hot period started at 2238, and at first it was just a weak Feather to about 4 feet, joined by the Southwest Vents.  After 8 full minutes of anemic Feather, suddenly Feather Satellite came on and there was a dramatic increase in overflow from Mastiff.  It was too steamy to see if Mastiff was surging, but Jeff said he could hear it surging, and also heard the wave of runoff flowing off the front of the platform.  Jeff looked for Cave but never saw it.  10 minutes into the hot period, Bijou came on, though not impressively.  Feather and Feather Satellite did not stop, and then about 90 seconds later Giant started to have large surges in its cone.  Giant erutped at 2250, 12 minutes into the hot period.  The duration was 95 minutes.

What Jeff described sounded similar to what visitors reported seeing on June 17 and what gazers saw on August 19.  However, those eruptions occurred on much longer intervals (11 and 13 1/2 days, respectively); this interval was just 5d12h44m.

--Tara Cross
fanandmortar at hotmail.com
_________________________________________________________________
Express yourself - download free Windows Live Messenger themes! 
http://clk.atdmt.com/MSN/go/msnnkwme0020000001msn/direct/01/?href=http://imagine-msn.com/themes/vibe/default.aspx?locale=en-us&source=hmtagline