[Geysers] Steamboat Geyser vs. steam pipe explosion

[Jeff Cross]

Steamboat Geyser is generally acknowledged to have the most powerful steam phase of any geyser in Yellowstone, with Giantess often being cited as the second most powerful.  But how could the power of the steam phase be quantified?  Perhaps we might compare it to an event about which some parameters are known:

I found the following footage of the 2007 New York City steam pipe explosion.  The pipe was 24 inches in diameter, and carried steam at temperature of 400F.  The steam cloud rose to a height of the nearby Chrysler Building, which is just over 1000 feet high.  The crater left by the explosion was 35 feet wide and 15 feet deep.

Would anyone who has seen Steamboat be willing to rate the power of the eruption in the film referenced below, and indicate whether it is more powerful or less powerful than the steam phase of Steamboat Geyser?  (Or perhaps, Giantess at its best.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee_zZladkXM

Jeff Cross
Jeff.cross at wallawalla.edu
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