[Geysers] Yellowstone trip

[Stephen J. Eide]

Greetings and Salutations,

Well, I just made my first winter visit to Yellowstone from the 13th to
the 20th (well, we came back on the 21st but all I saw was Fountain just
after it had erupted).  Sorry, I was going to post this on Sunday but
after getting back lethargy set in.

There wasn't much data in the log book to go on when I got in, just some
times on Grand mostly.  Carolyn has been keeping a running tally of the
intervals, they are mostly in the 7-8.5 hr range with that occasional
10-11 hour interval thrown in.  Old Faithful has been doing intervals
out of the usual range frequently, there have been several intervals in
the 70-80 minute range.  I owe a thank you to Kelly for pointing this
out to me, I noticed several early eruptions while I was in the park but
didn't notice they had been occurring for at least a couple of weeks
now.

Plume was dormant for the first few days I was in the park, on 1-13 it
still had snow from the snow on 1-11 and 1-12 right up to the edge of
the vent.  It even had small ice sickles in the back of the vent.
However I saw it in eruption on 1-15 and on 1-16 it was erupting just
about every hour.  It snowed overnight 1-17 to 1-18 and the morning of
the 18th Plume had snow right up to the vent edge so I believe it was
dormant overnight.  But by the afternoon it was again erupting at
intervals of about an hour.

Plate was dormant most of the week I was in the park but I finally saw
an eruptions on 1-20 at 1327 ie (seen from the Castle boardwalk).  Since
it had been so quiet and cool when I looked at it earlier in the week I
walked over to Sponge to make sure, it was steaming and the snow around
the crater and in the run off channels was melted so I'm sure it did
erupt but I only saw the one eruption.

On 1-19 I saw one eruption of Tilt or Tilt's baby, whichever you want to
call it, for the entire week.  Most of the time when I looked in on Tilt
it was quiet and full of water.  The one eruption I saw started with
about three minutes of water bumping up and down in the crater becoming
gradually more intense as time passed with the overflow gradually
increasing also.  It started pushing out small flakes of material and
the water became somewhat cloudily by the time the eruption started at
1537.  I didn't time the duration but I think it was about 2-3 minutes.

Beehive did erupt in the daytime on 1-15 with water in the indicator at
1216, Beehive indicator at 1218 and Beehive at 1229.  The rest of the
week the Bubblers started between 800 and 1100 and went all day with
Beehive erupting after dark.  However, about four hours after the
bubblers started Beehive indicator would fill with water and just sit
there, sometimes rising and falling a bit but only bubbling rarely and
not erupting.  It was kinda frustrating.  I wonder if the ice on the
hill was directing more water into the vent and so filling it up early
in the eruption cycle.  By the way, the Beehive's second indicator (or
the close to the cone indicator) was active with the bubblers, acting
just like another bubbler.  Counting it, there are now eight bubblers I
could identify and count on to appear.  They put out a considerable
amount of water, but it appeared Beehive was still erupting once a day,
just not in the daytime when I could see it.

You all heard about Giant on 1-16.  I was watching the water in Beehive
indicator just sit there when I saw the steam cloud and walked down to
Grand to confirm it was Giant.  Some days are like that.

1-14 Bronze spring was in overflow (as it was every time I saw it over
the next week).  Infant is relatively high and less cloudy than usual.
Castle was 909 NS and was a major.  Grotto was ie at 1250.  Grand was at
1334 T2Q.  It was a quiet day.

1-15 Grotto was ie at 913, Riverside was at 1104 (and it appears most of
the Riverside intervals are now 6.5 hr), I already mentioned Beehive at
1229, there was a call of Artimesia at 1304 ie and Mercury at 1306.
Plume was at 1418 (five bursts), Grand went off when I wasn't looking
(before 1430), Giant had a bathtub at 1507 and a hot period at 1605 with
a duration of 5 minutes 48 seconds with Feather, Feather sat, SW vents,
and Rust.  Mastiff was never more that a foot tall but after the first
minute it was flat with minor overflow.  Daisy was 1608.  I don't think
I caught a closed interval on Daisy the entire week.

1-16 Depression was at 1209 ie, Grand was at 1248 from the web cam,
Giant you already heard of, Little Squirt was ie at 1606 and Plume was
1103, 1204, 1324, 1431, and 1630.  I may have missed a Plume at about
1530, I wasn't on the main hill at the time.

1-17 Grotto was 1001 ie, Oblong 1041 ie, Grand 1041, Penta erupted
sometime overnight between 1-16 and 1-17 from the snow wash out of the
run off channel.  Lion was at 1104, 1237, and 1340 ie and Grotto was
1453 ie

1-18 Riverside was 1020 ie, Grotto Fountain and Grotto ie at 1027,
Castle 1129 ie, West Triplet 1148, Oblong 1200 ie, Rift 1226 ie (off
1319), Lion 1336, Grand 1423 T1C, and Aurum at 1618.

1-19 Lion was 1006, 1142, and 1317 ie.  Castle 1017 (Major, must have
minored overnight), Penta when again overnight between 1-18 and 1-19
based on it washing the snow markers in the run off channel and about
half the snow off the boardwalk between it and Spasmodic.  Grotto 1030
ie, Spa 1046 ie, Oblong 1057 ie, Daisy 1114, Aurum 1140, Riverside 1253
ns, Bulger (major) 1329, Grand 1330 (2 burst, but I missed the start
watching Bulger), Depression 1348 ie, and Tilt 1537.

1-20 Little Squirt was 903 ie, Aurum 915, Bulger (major) 923, Grotto 923
ie, Lion 1041 ie, 1211, and 1341.  Grand was 1018 ie (three short
intervals overnight of about 6 3/4, 7 1/4, and 6 3/4 hours), a nice
Penta steam phase eruption 1031 ie joined by the far vent of Oval pool
at 1039, Depression 1100 ie, Copper Kettle was overflowing as strong as
I've ever seen (still not that much) and occasionally boiling (or maybe
just bubbling) just at the overflow point at 1101.  Plume 1120 and 1241,
Aurum 1259, Uncertain 1312, Plate 1327 ie, Grotto 1400 ie (I think it
was in marathon), Spa 1413 ie, Riverside 1447, and there are now two
vents active just behind the Doublet pool sign, intermittently spraying
water about two inches high.

I didn't get much for pictures, but I will try to send a short movie of
the penta steam phase eruption with Oval pool in the background later.

The temperatures were cold the first few days with lows in the -30 to
-40 range and highs -10 to 0 but later in the week it warmed up to dawn
temperatures of 10 and highs of 25-30, positively balmy.

Stephen J Eide