[Geysers] Steamboat?

[Bill Warnock]

Yesterday (2/24) I visited Norris together with brother Dave and the Friz family.  We were there from around 3 to 4 pm.  Steamboat was putting forth great clouds of condensed steam, but no water at all from either of the main vents.  Listening carefully, we could hear no water splashing, even at depth.  There was only ice in the runoff channel where south vent's bursts normally drain. Down below, there was no runoff at the little bridge to Echninus and no sign of a recent eruption--no snowmelt on the boardwalk or mud/gravel on the little bridge, no disturbance of the bacterial mat under the ice.

Cistern Spring was almost empty, with only a flat pool of water visible at the very bottom, slightly steaming but not boiling.  Echnius was full and in overflow, but we saw no eruption.  One guide told us that the Park Geologist had been there the day before looking things over.  Maybe we'll get a report.

It looks like the plug was pulled on Steamboat/Cistern's water source.  Strange indeed.  I'll post some pictures later.

Bill Warnock
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Mike Keller 
  To: 'geyser observation reports' 
  Sent: Wednesday, February 21, 2007 8:38 PM
  Subject: [Geysers] Steamboat?


  There is an unconfirmed report that Steamboat erupted within the past 24-48 hours.  The following was reported to Bonnie Schwartz, Old Faithful Sub-District Ranger this afternoon (2/21) by a female guide (I didn't get the guide's name):



  "Steamboat Geyser appears to be ready to erupt.  It is sending a plume of steam several hundred feet into the air, and Cistern Spring is draining."  The guide said Cistern dropped 2cm in the 20 minutes they watched it.  Now before you say "Steamboat erupted", the guide neglected to mention anything about ice, wash, snowmelt, or mud in the area.  Instead, she said the bacteria mat looked thick in the runoff channel.  She also told Bonnie there were no footprints in the snow and that her party appeared to be the first one to visit the area in days.  YNP has been hit with a heavy snowstorm the past 48 hours, with over a foot of new snow falling in the interior.



  I am heading out of the Park tomorrow morning for the weekend and won't be able to visit Steamboat until early next week.  Hopefully someone else who knows what to look at will get there before I do.



  MK



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