[Geysers] F&M details 9/6, 9/9, and 9/12

[Graham Meech]

I know this is rather late, but for the record here are the details of the
activity leading to these F&M eruptions.

 

9/6/2008

I went down to F&M on 9/6 and was delayed for a few minutes when Oblong
erupted at 0040ie when I was close on the bike path.  It always amazes me
how much you can hear at night and this eruption sounded just like the start
of a Grand eruption (without the cheering crowds).  I have never heard
Oblong sound like that before.

 

On arrival at F&M at 0050, river was off and there was a splash in Main
Vent, so my timing was good.  Bottom Vent's runoff was dry so I think I
arrived at the start of the event cycle.

 

0101 Bottom Vent #1 d=2m

0103 Bottom Vent quit

0104 River Vent on

0105 Main vent started to splash regularly

0108 River Vent off - River Vent pause #1

0113 River Vent on

0113 Bottom Vent #2 d=3, Main Vent stopped splashing

0116 Bottom Vent quit

0116 Main Vent splashing started up again

0121 River Vent off, River Vent pause #2

0121 Bottom Vent #3 d=9

0123 Main Vent splash (last one till 0135)

0130 Bottom Vent quit

0135 River Vent on

0135 Main Vent splash

0137 Bottom Vent #4 d=9

0137 Main Vent splash

0138 River Vent weakened

0140 big Main Vent splash

0141 River Vent off, River Vent pause #3

0146 Bottom Vent quit

0148 River Vent on

0151 River Vent weakened

0153 River vent strong again

0155 Gold Vent on

0157 Angle Vent on

0205 Lock

0209 Lock gets much bigger

0212 F&M, d=27m

East vent started ~10s before Main Vent and Mortar.  Mortar stopped quickly.

0215 Upper and Lower Mortar - very strong for d=3m - two huge noisy columns
of water, both about the same height.

Initial burst lasted 16m.

Water in Norris Pool was very high during the eruption.

That was my first night-time F&M and the only eruption I have seen on my
own.  It certainly made moving back and forth on the boardwalk easy with no
risk of collisions and the breeze blew nicely to the river so I could stand
in front of the benches and enjoy listening to the eruption and using my
flashlight.

 

 

9/9/2008

I kept the same schedule, arriving at F&M at 0042 to relieve Dean Lohrenz
who watched over F&M from sundown.  I saw a series of short cycles with
Angle basically on all the time.  At 0325 River, Gold, and Angle turned on
and I walked up to wait for Daisy which was due.  Daisy had a long interval
and I left it before it erupted as I had been away from F&M for a while.
When   I returned:

0431 Main Vent was splashing, River Vent was on, and Bottom Vent's runoff
channel was wet so I probably missed a Bottom Vent eruption, not just heavy
splashing. 

0438 River Vent off - I did not see Gold or Angle on for these 7 minutes so
this looked like a River Vent pause

0441 River Vent on

0442 Bottom Vent d=3

0445 Bottom Vent quit

 River Vent went very weak and may have paused briefly but it was hard to
tell through the steam

0453 River and Gold Vent both definitely on

0455 Angle Vent on

Vents dropped to nothing at all around the time Dean showed up but then
bounced right back and went into lock quickly.

0505 Lock

0519 F&M, Main Vent start, d=32m, initial burst d=12m

Dean and Jason came on down for the eruption which was nice, F&M should be
shared!

 

9/12/2008

Lynn Stephens already sent out information on the eruption cycle for this
F&M but I will add a few of the details that didn't get into her notes as
she biked down to F&M.  Again I relieved Dean around 0045 and saw some
uneventful activity followed by:

0202 Main Vent splash

0207 River Vent on

0214 River Vent off, River Vent pause #1

0217 River vent on (weakly)

0220 River Vent off, River Vent pause #2

0226 Bottom Vent #1 d=3

0231 Bottom Vent #2 d=11

0244 River Vent on

0244 Gold Vent on

0246 Angle Vent on

0251 vents weakened

0253 vents back up nicely

0255 Lock

0310 F&M d=24, Main vent start, initial burst d=14

For this eruption I expected Dean to show up as I had called him and heard
his relays but I was happy to see Lynn show up first, followed shortly by
Dean.  The company, the moon backlighting the start of the eruption, and the
elk bugling during the eruption made this my favorite eruption of the trip.

 

So that made my total of 4 F&M eruptions in 2 weeks (including the 9/3
eruption), 3 of which were at night.  All 3 night-time eruptions had the
wind blowing toward the river for good viewing and listening opportunities.

 

Thank-you to everyone that took a turn watching F&M during its window and
for making all the radio calls to draw us back down there for some
excitement.  I hope it keeps up its frequent eruptions into next year!

 

Graham.Meech

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