[Geysers] Yellowstone July 8 (Stephens)

[Lynn Stephens]

THIS REPORT IS FOR THE PERSONAL READING USE OF THE SUBSCRIBERS TO THIS LISTERV

AND MAY NOT BE REPRODUCED, FORWARDED, OR OTHERWISE USED FOR ANY OTHER PURPOSE,

INCLUDING PUBLICATION IN THE SPUT, EITHER IN WHOLE OR IN PART.

 

Since Ben has already covered most of the information for July 8 (thank you Ben), I'll limit my report for July 8 to the Fan & Mortar event cycle.  Thank you to Kitt Barger for calling the cycle and to Dean Lohrenz for doing the relay from Castle for the first half hour or so.

 

The event cycle:

 

1858 River Vent (RV) on; 1904 Main Vent (MV) roared and turned RV off at 

1906  First RV pause

1908 First MV splash.

1920 RV on, Bottom Vent (BV) splashing intermittently sending water to the river but not yet erupting

1927, 1928, 1929 MV continues to splash with frequent splashes.  No buckets of water to East Vent (EV) and no "white water"--just 

        frequent low splashes.  RV turns off

1931  Second RV pause.  MV continues to have frequent splashes

1933 RV heavy steam and dribbles on.  MV continues frequent splashing and turns RV off at 1935 for an RV "cough"

1938 Heavy splash in MV

1939  BV turns on and continues to erupt for 23 minutes.  Lower Mortar (LM)was having nice fuzzballs, but water levels 

        dropped between the splashes so no LM was not erupting from a pool.

1943  Last splash from MV recorded although MV continued to have roars through 1946

        BV continues to erupt.  Depending on the observer it was either "entertaining" or "annoying."

1958  RV turns on

2000  Gold turns on

2007  Angle turns on with a burble but then starts spritzing.

2011  Water levels in High and Gold improve with Gold 2 and 3 making an appearance but then water levels started fluctuating 

2014  Water levels have been up again, then down again, up again, then down again

        2016  Frying Pan turns on and Upper Mortar (UM) has a fuzz ball

2019  UM again fills the cone with a fuzz ball, lifting High to 2-3 feet and Gold to 2 feet.  At this point I put on my poncho and Dean 

        declared quietly that this looked like a lock.  I wasn't nearly as confident as he was and no one was yelling "It's a lock."

2020  Fan's Vents lift with High to 3-4 feet.

2021  High to 4 ft, but then Gold disappeared and High dropped to less than a foot

        Sometime during these ups and downs, Kitt and I started saying mean, but not naughty, things to the pile of rocks.  Some of 

        the crowd decided to get into the act, especially Amy Hatfield, who came up with some really good insults for F&M.

2022  UM again fills and lifts High and Gold to encouraging levels before they once again drop to barely adequate levels

2025  UM fills a third time, lifting Fan's Vents.  But this time UM just continues building to 2 ft-4ft-6-ft-8ft.  UM's buildup was a

        sustained build-up rather than rise, fall, then rise again.  

2026  UM is in full eruption at 10, then 15, then 20 feet.  Water levels in Fan's vents were not impressive until

2027  East Vent takes off lifting Fan's other vents with it and now we are all yelling with excitement and Eric Hatfield is seeing

        another F&M eruption without seeing a "lock."

     

     The water from Fan's eruption barely reached the boardwalk.  For the first several minutes the wind direction made it possible to stand between Mortar and Fan providing a wonderful view of both Upper Mortar and Fan's vents.  Lower Mortar joined in about 4 mintues after Fan started (I didn't want to dig out my logbook from underneath the two layers of rain gear to record the exact time).  Then the wind shifted, pushing the water toward the boardwalk and those of us still standing there parted to either side to get away from the downpour.

     The first pause in the action occurred at 2043.  Last water from East Vent was at 2103.

      One of the messages Dean relayed from F&M during the first part of the event cycle was "It's cold down here at Fan & Mortar."  Kitt was warning some of the other gazers to bring warm clothing rather than light jackets.  It got even colder last night and there was a little ice on my windshield this morning. 

 

Lynn Stephens

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