[Geysers] Fan & Mortar, July 26 @ 2054, and other geysers July 27

[Tara Cross]

Fan and Mortar erupted on July 26 at 2054 for an interval of
3d21h09m.  In 14 hours of continuous
observation starting at 0530, the only activity worth noting at Fan and Mortar
was two isolated Main Vent splashes around 0720.  After that, absolutely nothing happened for
12 hours.  As seen during previous
intervals, activity alternated between garbage and longer cycles that often
lasted 50-60 minutes and included activity by Frying Pan.  Regardless of what was happening, Main Vent
showed no interest in doing anything.

 

Finally, after about an hour of continuous activity from
Angle, River was on for 26 minutes along with Gold and Angle, and then it shut
off at 1911.  At first there were still
lingering splashes from Angle, but at about 1920, they stopped and Main Vent
began to huff.  With great encouragement
from the gazers present, Main Vent began to splash at 1929.  Events transpired as follows:

 

1929 Main Vent splash

1942 River Vent on, Main Vent seemed to be giving up

1944 Gold on, water levels were up and down until suddenly
it bottomed out and Main Vent started to roar and splash again

1952 River and Gold off, Gold pause

2006 River Vent on, Bottom Vent splashing

2008 Bottom Vent full eruption, d~4m

2013 River Vent off, River pause

2016 Bottom Vent full eruption, d~22m, Main Vent continued
to splash vigorously

~2025 Main Vent had its last splash but continued to roar
until

2037 River Vent on

2039 Gold Vent on

2041 Angle Vent on, water levels were just “ok” until
suddenly

2049 High Vent in lock, followed quickly by Gold

2054 Upper Mortar had a voluminous surge to about 5 feet
above the cone

2054 FAN AND MORTAR, East Vent start

 

The eruption started after the sun had gone down, but the
conditions were still quite good, with the wind blowing away from the trail for
most of the eruption.  There was a fine
crowd on hand, but only a few chose to get doused by Main Vent.  It was one of the tallest eruptions of Fan
that I have ever seen; water reached to Backwater Spring with no help from the
wind.  About 10 minutes into the
eruption, I noticed that the water level in Norris Pool had risen
significantly, reminiscent of its 2001 reactions to Fan and Mortar
eruptions.  I cannot remember the last
time I saw Norris Pool rise in such a fashion, but it certainly has not done so
at any eruption I have seen for at least 4-5 years.  Don’t know if that means anything or not.  Per Kitt, the duration was 32 minutes.

 

 

In other news, Grand had a 4-burst eruption at 1402 on July
27.  I didn’t get the exact times from
Mary Beth, but the first burst was just barely over 7 minutes and the water
came up almost instantly after it stopped for a second burst that was over 75
seconds long.  If I remember correctly,
the third and fourth bursts were both under a minute.  The crowd was delighted and several gazers
saw their first ever 4-burst eruption.

 

Also, Beehive surprised everyone by erupting at 1627wc on
July 27.  No one had seen or heard the
overnight eruption, but Beehive was not seen having any splashing prior to
about 1530, so it was surmised that the earliest chance would be evening.  There was an Indicator of unknown length, but
all gazers were at either Oblong or Great Fountain, so it was not reported on
the radio and the time had to be determined from the webcam.

--Tara Cross
fanandmortar at hotmail.com



_________________________________________________________________
With Windows Live for mobile, your contacts travel with you.
http://www.windowslive.com/mobile/overview.html?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_mobile_072008
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: </geyser-list/attachments/20080728/4e528e41/attachment.html>