[Geysers] Geyser report, Aug 14-16

[Tara Cross]

The following is a spotty report on geysers besides Grotto/Giant for Aug 14-16, 2007.
 
Beehive - According to those watching it prior to my arrival, Beehive's Indicator continued to fill with water 5-20 minutes prior to actually erupting, giving ample time for people at other locations to get to Beehive.  This was the case on 8/14, but on 8/16 there was very little time between when water was spotted and when it started bubbling.  The actual Indicators lasted 11 and 5 minutes, respectively, prior to the start of Beehive.
 
Aurum - I only have one closed interval of 5h21m in my notebook, but the Millers had been catching quite a few eruptions.
 
Oblong - intervals varied from 3h08m to 4h59m.  Any given interval could be anywhere in that range.
 
Fan & Mortar - at least 2-3 event cycles were being seen per day, with variable strength.  Event cycles generally included eruptions of Bottom Vent and plenty of Main Vent splashing, sometimes with River Vent pauses lasting 10-20 minutes.  The water levels in the minor vents would sometimes drop right away, and other times hold for 10 minutes or more after the start of River Vent.  Thus far, the only difference that I can see between the event cycles that I saw and the ones described to me that have led to eruptions is that the minor vents stayed strong long enough to go into lock.  However....
 
On the afternoon of 8/16, I was biking down to the pit toilet when I noticed that there was water in Bottom Vent's runoff channel.  River, High, Gold, and Angle were all on as of 1600, and the water levels looked quite good.  I didn't know how long River had been on, and I didn't want to sound a false alarm, so I waited a few minutes to make a call.  At 1605, I announced that the water levels had not given up yet.  Immediately after that, they dropped slightly, but then came back, and High Vent became steady.  At 1606, I called that High Vent was erupting steadily to 4-5 feet, Gold was also erupting steadily, and that it looked like a lock from the previous active phase (I made this qualification because Angle was still just blipping).  At about 1608, Angle suddenly got stronger, and then went into steam phase, and High Vent got even taller, reaching 6-8 feet.
 
By this time, I had been joined by the many gazers who had been hanging out at Grotto and Giant (apparently, there was a rather amusing mass exodus from the monkey cage when the word "lock" was uttered).  I was glad that there were other witnesses to see what happened next.  At 1609, Main Vent had several large splashes that reached the top of its cone, and I thought that Fan & Mortar were starting.  I heard a burbling sound in East Vent, accompanied by a big puff of steam.  But at 1610, High Vent abruptly dropped down to almost nothing and the water collapsed out of Gold.  The steam in Angle died down, and within about a minute, even River Vent had shut off.  I have seen "false locks" in the past (several in 2004 and 2005), but I have never seen Main Vent splash that big, or the water levels drop so fast.
 
Ever since Fan & Mortar's first eruption in June, I had commented that it would be great if I was biking to the pit toilet one day and Fan's vents went into lock.  Clearly, I need to be more specific with my wishes and add that Fan & Mortar should actually erupt.
 
 
Fountain - I only managed to catch one eruption of Fountain.  It was seen on 8/15 and 0943ns, and erupted again at 1527 for an interval of roughly 5h44m.  I arrived at Fountain about an hour prior to its eruption, and Jet erupted at intervals of 6-8 minutes until Fountain's start.  Spasm started at 1510, but had finished and drained by the time Fountain started.  Morning's Thief had its first series of bursts at 1528, followed by 2 more series.  As for Fountain, it's eruption was the strongest I have seen this year and lasted 31 minutes.
 
I did not see much of anything erupting in the Kaleidoscope Group while I was there.  I should mention, though, that back on July 29, I saw Honeycomb for the first time this year, and on 8/15, I did not see Honey's Vent erupt until after Fountain was over, meaning that it was off for at least 90 minutes.
 
 
--Tara Cross
fanandmortar at hotmail.com
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