[Geysers] Steamboat?

[s at weststartv.com]

Greetings All,

Very interesting indeed.  The two times before that I know 
of this happening were in January, 1994 during a 
"localized disturbance" in the Back Basin at Norris. 
 There were other strange things at that time.  Puf N Stuf 
was erupting to around three meters, Yellow Funnel drained 
and was in a pretty strong steam phase, Green Dragon was 
erupting up to the roof of the cave and Hydrophane Springs 
area was down and several small vents out there were 
erupting or in steam.
The second time this happened was in April of 1995. ( The 
same time that "The Gap" area broke out )  Again, there 
were indications of a "localized disturbance" in the Back 
Basin.  There was the outbreak of thermal activity in 100 
Springs area and this was a time of some of the best 
eruptions I have ever seen of Medusa Geyser.
It will certainly be most interesting to see what the 
current YNP staff have to say.
Being several thousand miles from my logs and records, I 
can only provide the information from my memory and some 
of the notes that are on my computer here.

Take Care,

Smokey

On Sun, 25 Feb 2007 07:59:37 -0700
  "Bill Warnock" <billwarnock at wyellowstone.com> wrote:
> 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