[Geysers] Geyser Report 8/26

[Ben Hoppe]

All times, unless otherwise noted, are from Wednesday, August 26.

I am sure glad I get to send this report! What a beautiful today in
Yellowstone: sunny, warm, not too much of a breeze. The best thing
that I get to report today is that I got to see one more Fan and
Mortar before leaving. I was packing during the beginning of the event
cycle, but from 1635 on, I was there and calling things over the radio
per request. The times I got were approximates from other gazers who
did not have notebooks on them and were there before me. Thanks to
Brian for calling it out! Here are the events:
~1550 First Main Vent splash
~1600-1620 Main Vent frequent splashing
~1623 Bottom Vent began eruption, Main Vent quit once Bottom began
1647 River Vent on
1649 Bottom Vent eruption ends
1652 Gold Vent on
1654 Angle Vent on
Water levels looked passable for the next 5 minutes.
1701 Excellent water levels
1703 Receding (slightly) water levels
1704 First Upper Mortar surge which caused High to begin splashing to
3 feet constantly
High then went up and down erupting 3-5 feet almost consantly
1707 Upper Mortar was doing water mixed with steam splashing almost constantly
1709 Water levels disappeared in Fan. They almost went invisible. I was sad!
1710 I was no longer sad. Upper Mortar would not let this one down. It
began erupting 5-10 feet with constant surging. I did not call the
start because for one split second it looked like it's water was going
to go down, but it did not because Main Vent and East Vent took off
simultaneously, at which point I screamed "Fan and Mortar 1710" into
my radio.
1712 Lower Mortar joined the eruption. Some heights of it reached over 20 feet.
1726 First Pause
1743 Last water (duration of water = 33 minutes)

It was difficult to gauge where to stand for this eruption. I did not
take many pictures because I didn't know where to stand at all. It was
another eruption where Upper Mortar especially was quite large and
loud again. Fan was also very large. It created a nice flood of water
going between the logs that are next to the trail at Norris
Pool/Backwater Spring. As I noticed this I also noticed the Norris
Pool was boiling to about 6-9 inches.

At 1728 I was intrigued by Spiteful: it was sending spurts of water at
an angle of about 40 degrees from the horizontal towards the
boardwalk. The droplets that traveled the longest distance were about
10 feet from the crater. The water peaked at about 5 feet high. I am
not sure if it does that after/during every Fan and Mortar eruption or
not. At 1735 the crater was quiet, and the water level had dropped 2-3
inches.

I decided I would not go to sit by any other geysers (including Grand)
because I wanted Fan and Mortar to be my last geysers of 2009. The
last 4 event cycles I saw were eruption cycles. I saw the last 4
consecutive eruptions. This interval was 3d4h23m. Not a bad record.

Other times from the day:
Oblong 1723ie
Grotto 1303
Grotto Fountain 1253
Lion 1135, 1309, 1439
Rift 0617ie
Castle 1019, it stopped, then restarted at 1024 for a major eruption
Daisy 0627ie, 0842, 1056, 1312, 1528
Fountain 1055ie (1122 end)
Grand 1040 (3 burst eruption)
Beehive 1409 (1357 Indicator)
Plume 0825, 0923, 1013, 1215, 1313, 1405, 1506ie, 1755ie

The roofing on the Post Office side of the OFVEC is done. The only
part they did not do was the very top little tower thing (observation
deck?). They were beginning this evening on the roof facing Old
Faithful. I would just like to say that I am very impressed with the
way they work from morning until sundown. Every day I was able to tell
what had been done.

This is my last report for the season. Hopefully all of the geysers
(especially F&M) cooperate for those of you planning on making trips
yet this season, namely the Labor Day Weekend crowd!

It was a great experience to study and observe geysers here for the
summer, but it was equaled (if not surpassed) by sharing the geyser
experiences with so many people.

May there be many multi-burst Grands, 100+ foot splashes in Main Vent,
two-a-day Beehives, Giantesses, Link majors, Rocket majors, and Great
Fountain blue-bubble superbursts for the rest of the year (and next
year, too). And maybe even a Steamboat, Giant, Splendid, Morning, or
Excelsior something thrown in there!

-Ben Hoppe

-- 
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ
lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son
of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. - Galatians 2:20