[Geysers] Morning activity May 13

[Mike Keller]

All,

 

This is very exciting news!  I hope Morning gets its act together and can
stay active for some period of time this year.

 

That being said, I have strong concerns over the "sometime mid-winter"
eruption taking place.  I hope someone can produce the photo mentioned
below.  On more than one occasion this winter it was rumored by coach guides
from West Yellowstone that Morning was active.  I even heard a guide say
this to his group one day while at the Fountain Paint Pots.  I stopped at
FPP in January and early March to check Morning.  It had not erupted.  I
checked it again in late March when the roads were plowed and it was evident
that no eruptions major eruptions had taken place to cause any change in the
broken sinter along the north and northwestern sides of Morning's crater.
Also, the runoff channel still had 1-2 feet of solid snow in it in March.
If the main vent of Morning did erupt, the play couldn't have been very big.
On the flip side, there was heavy wash around "Morning's Thief" and clear
indications that it was still having large eruptions.  In April I witnessed
several eruptions from "MT" to 25-40 feet, all taking place about 10-15
minutes after Fountain had started.

 

Not sure when the Fountain data logger was last downloaded, but I don't seem
to recall anyone saying Fountain had abnormally long intervals or long
pauses this winter, either.  I could be wrong here.

 

MK

 

-----Original Message-----
From: geysers-bounces at wwc.edu [mailto:geysers-bounces at wwc.edu] On Behalf Of
TSBryan at aol.com
Sent: Sunday, May 13, 2007 7:49 PM
To: geysers at wwc.edu
Subject: [Geysers] Morning activity May 13

 

I just talked to Brad Barth, a long-time and reliable tour guide, and it was
indeed he who made the report abouot Morning... errr, this morning. He is
one of the fulltime drivers of the big yellow Buffalo Bus rigs -- you've
probably all seen him, even if you didn't know it. He said:

 

Fountain was in eruption as they entered Fountain Flat. He tried to hurry
his group up to the mud pots and beyond in order to see some of Fountain.
They were successful. While all the way out by Spasm is apparently when
Morning started. There was a series of bursts, mostly 25-30 feet high but
one that Brad feels hit at least 80 feet. These were definitely from the
pool of Morning and not Morning's Thief. One of his passengers got some
video of it, video apparently already seen by people in the OFVC.

 

Fountain had a total duration in excess of 40 minutes and at times was
tossing rocks, which Brad thought maybe were being washed over to Fountain
by Morning's action.

 

And I had not heard this before now: apparently Morning also had a
confirmed-by-photo eruption sometime in mid-winter.

 

Stay tuned.

 

Scott Bryan





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