[Geysers] Activity at Grotto/Giant, Aug 14-16

[Tara Cross]

The following is a summary of activity at Grotto/Giant, August 14-16, 2007.
 
August 14
 
Grotto marathon (d~13-14 hrs) ended ~0400-0500
 
1106 Giant hot period, d=8m53s.  Feather Satellite, Mastiff boiled 1-2 feet, India 75% covered.
1347 Giant hot period, d=3m20s.  Feather Satellite, Mastiff light overflow.
1535 Giant hot period, d=6m.  Feather Satellite, Mastiff boiled 2 feet, India 30% covered.
~1712 Giant hot period, d~6m.  Visitor report.
1751 Grotto Fountain (d=19m)
1818 Giant hot period, d=2m55s.  Feather Satellite, Mastiff boiled 1 foot.
1924 Giant hot period, d=3m40s.  SW Vents started before Feather, Mastiff did not overflow.
2016 Giant hot period, d=2m03s.  Feather & SW Vents only, Mastiff light overflow.
2041ie Grotto Fountain
2047 Grotto
2157 Giant hot period, d~8m.  Feather Satellite, Mastiff surged 4 feet, India 100% covered.
 
I would like to note that while the final hot period of the day was quite strong, it was *not* 14 minutes long (I heard this reported to me the next day).  The duration of Feather was about 8 minutes.  It paused for about 45-50 seconds and then came back on for a restart, which according to long-standing convention is not included in the duration of Feather.  It was certainly an impressive restart, lasting about 5 minutes with some nice vertical surging in Giant, but I never thought Giant had a realistic shot of erupting.
 
August 15
 
I happened to be sitting directly in front of Grotto when it quit at 1807 for a duration of exactly 21h20m.
 
August 16
 
Upon consulting various sources, it was determined that for Giant to have the best shot of erupting, the recovery hot period should wait at least 9 hours.  However, just to be safe, a large group of gazers arrived at Giant just prior to midnight and our wait began.  By 0300, there were 23 people waiting in the monkey cage, and two more joined for the hot period itself.
 
Starting around 0145, the GIP had some strong rises that came up past the "elbow" and then dropped down a few inches.  When it had been 9 hours after the end of Grotto, we thought we would get the hot period soon....
 
0310 Giant hot period, d~10m.  Feather Satellite, Mastiff surged to 5-6 feet, India 100% covered.
 
Obviously, the recovery hot period was rather disappointing--but I would not say that it was weak.  India was 90% covered by the 3-minute mark and 100% covered by the end; the only thing that seemed was missing was *steady* activity from Mastiff.  Though it was very steamy throughout, at about the 9-minute mark I saw some wide, tall surging in Mastiff that was at least 5-6 feet and possibly as tall as the cone.  Then, quite suddenly, the steam dissipated and Feather quit.  There was a short, unexciting restart.
 
After this, most of us grumpily went to bed.  The rest of the day's activity was as follows:
 
0722 Giant hot period, d=6m08s.
0856 Giant hot period, d=2m50s.
0925 Grotto Fountain (d=23m)
0959 Giant hot period, d=8m16s.  Feather Satellite, Mastiff surged 2 feet, India 80% covered, Cave 4 inches.
1057 Giant hot period, d=1m48s.  Feather & SW Vents only, Mastiff did not overflow.
1201 Giant hot period, d=2m04s.  Feather & SW Vents only, Mastiff light overflow.
1313 Giant hot period, d=4m27s.  Feather, Rust, & SW Vents, Mastiff boiled 6 inches.
1353 Grotto Fountain (d=21m)
1402 Grotto - marathon
1408 Giant hot period, d=2m21s.  Feather & SW Vents, Mastiff boiled 1 foot.
1517 Giant hot period, d=6m33s.  Feather, Rust, & SW Vents, Mastiff light overflow.
1620 Bathtub
1725 Footbath
1836 Giant hot period, d=4m58s.  Feather Satellite, Mastiff boiled 2 feet, India 30% covered.
 
 
The events of August 17 have already been reported by Scott Bryan.  This time Giant waited until I was cresting 4th of July Pass in Idaho before erupting.  Maybe next time I'll get all the way to Spokane.
 
 
--Tara Cross
fanandmortar at hotmail.com
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