[Geysers] A letter to Brett Prettyman

[Michael Goldberg]

Hi all,

I sent the following letter a couple of weeks ago to outdoors at sltrib.edu 
(the email address visible in Gary Novak's post).  My goal was to give 
some idea of why people from all walks of life might become fascinated by 
geysers, and why Giant is likely to be the destination of choice this 
summer.  As well as suggest a couple of places to look online for more 
information/inspiration.

I will probably use bits and pieces of this letter again, whenever I'm 
trying to explain the concept of "Geyser Gazing" to my friends and 
colleagues.  So please let me know if I left out something important,
and I'll make sure to include it next time.

Michael Goldberg
mikeg at math.jhu.edu

--------------Begin Forwarded Message-----------------

Dear Brett,

I heard third-hand about your call for information about
Geyser Gazers, and couldn't resist tossing a few opinions
into the ring.  I hope you are able to meet some of the
local geyser enthusiasts and work with them in writing your
piece.

Here are a couple of background suggestions that come to mind:

1. There are many reasons people enjoy geyser gazing as a
hobby, much as there are many reasons people take up
bird-watching.  It can be a way to relax in the great outdoors,
it can be a serious scientific pursuit, it can create an extended
"family" that you see once a year.  Everyone privately keeps a
life list of what they've seen and dreams about what is still out
there.  Some of the gazers are willing to subject themselves to the
worst weather imaginable, if that's what it takes.  Others
(perhaps rightfully) think they're nuts.

There is also a fair comparison to tornado-chasing, which may
be more familiar to your audience, thanks to the Weather
Channel, Discovery Channel, and the occasional Hollywood
blockbuster.  Both tornadoes and geysers are natural phenomena
which stand far outside the realm of common experience, and
also far beyond our scientific understanding.  Both are
ephemeral, and appear according to their own whims, not ours.

An important common thread between these various hobbies is
that they consist mainly of standing around for long periods
of time hoping that something out of the ordinary will happen.
Bring a good book.

The best introduction to geyser gazing that I am aware of is
on Tara Cross' homepage:
http://students.washington.edu/~tmc22/geysers/welcome.html
(All content, except where attributed otherwise, is by
Tara Cross)

2. The geyser story of this year is Giant Geyser.  For most
of the past half-century, eruptions of Giant have been a
once-a-year (or even once-a-decade) occurrence.  But in
recent months Giant has entered an active phase with
eruptions taking place at approximately 5-10 day intervals.
None of us knows whether this activity will continue for
any length of time.  We can only watch closely and hope it
will erupt again at least once more...

On a day that Giant could potentially erupt, every gazer is
either down there waiting, or tuned in to the FRS radio
channel where reports of Giant's activity would be announced.
The radio lead time isn't much -- 10 minutes if you're
willing to tolerate numerous false alarms, 3-5 minutes if
your ears don't perk up until the reports have Mastiff Geyser
surging 3 feet or more -- but it's often enough for you to
pick a vantage point to watch the first rockets of water soar
above the trees.

Tara Cross' website features a detailed narrative and some
spectacular video of Giant Geyser's eruptions in 2006.
These pages start at:
http://students.washington.edu/tmc22/June6/June6.html

and continue by following the links at the bottom of each page.
The narrative mentions a number of other geysers and landmarks
by name.  I'll be happy to provide a glossary of features and
describe their interrelations if that would be of any use to you.

Turn down the volume before starting the video.  The voice behind
the camera yells out the geyser name, the eruption start time,
and a great many exclamations of joy.

3. For what it's worth, the July 5, 1997 episode of
"A Prairie Home Companion" includes some reports from geyser
gazers out in the field.  It worked OK, though our CB radio
signals got jammed pretty badly by the broadcasting equipment.
It looks like you can listen to that clip by visiting their
arichives: http://prairiehome.publicradio.org/programs/19970705/
The geyser segment starts somewhere in middle of the interview
with Ann Deutsch (around minute 30).

On that note, I'll sign off.
Feel free to write back if there's anything else I can contribute
to the project.

Best regards,

Michael Goldberg
-------------------------
Department of Mathematics
Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, MD 21218
phone: (410) 516-7406
email: mikeg at math.jhu.edu