[Geysers] Geyser Report 6/3 (Stephens)

[Lynn Stephens]

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The computers and telephones were out when I checked in at the office early this (6/3) morning.  NPS put out a press release on the outages.

 

I spent the day in the Lower Basin, primarily the Pink Cone Group.

 

Scott delivered the morning's 7:30 +/- 15 minute prediction to the Upper Basin.  Bill and Carol Beverly and Barbara Lasseter joined me for the eruption (0736, p = 6).  The start was large and steamy, creating instant waterfalls all around the rim.  Once again we were rewarded with a blue burst on the third series.  Barbara had told me about some things she had purchased at the loft on 6/2.  When Bill and Carol said they were going to Lake to look for animals, I asked if they would get as far as Fishing Bridge.  When they replied "Yes," Bill had to stand around patiently waiting while Barbara and I gave Carol our shopping order.

 

After Great Fountain I moved to the Pink Cone groop.  Pink Cone (0729ns, I=21h21m) had started during Great Fountain's start.  Pink Cone's duration was about 102 minutes.  It continued to have forced 2-3 minute duration steam rushes for about 7 hours after the start of the eruption.

 

I have a string of Box Spring and Bead intervals--nothing out of the ordinary. I was on site for almost 8 hours and only saw one eruption of Labial, so no interval.

 

Between Scott and myself we now have three approximate intervals for Pink.  Using my 0851ns and his 1505ie on 6/2, the interval was about 6 1/4 hours.  Today I had an interval of about 6 1/4 hours, followed by an interval of about 5 3/4 hours.  Narcissus is exhibiting its long/short pattern with long duration followed by short interval, then a short duration followed by a long interval.  Eruptions today were 0933, 1153 (I=2h20m), 1505 (I=3h12m), 1726 (I=2h21m), 2050 (3h24m).

 

The sky was cloudy and drippy most of the day.  One of the nice things about being here at the beginning of June is the lack of vehicular traffic.  When I'm sitting at Pink Cone, I can easily hear Labial, Bead, Narcissus, and Pink (but not Box Spring--even when I'm sitting across from it at Shelf Spring it is difficult to hear Box Spring).  This morning whenever the showers stopped so I could roll my window down without getting wet, I could hear songbirds chirping, cheeping, tweeting, twittering, and whistling in a mellifluous assortment of avian conversations.  I didn't hear the sandhill cranes calling until later in the evening though.

 

I did leave the Pink Cone group long enough to get a start on Till at 1019 (overflow = 20 minutes, overflow has been the variable over the years in Till's intervals, double I = 18h23m.)

 

I thought I was going to go home after the evening Great Fountain (1910, of=83, p=2).  But while I was sitting at the far end of the benches during overflow, keeping an eye on the Pink Cone Group for identifiable steam clouds (primarily Narcissus), I saw Gemini start a series at 1844.  After Great Fountain ended, I moved to White Dome, hoping to get the end of the series.  As I watched each eruption, I found myself actually hoping that the right vent would start an eruption, because the series often ends following an eruption that has started from the right vent.  (It may have an eruption started by the right vent followed by a few more eruptions starting from the left vent, then another eruption from the right vent and then stop.  I have not yet seen it recover to continue the series after two non-consecutive right vent starts, but having written that, next series will continue after two non-consecutive right vent starts.)  I finally abandoned my watch after an eruption at 2111 because it was getting dark and the sky was starting to sprinkle again.

 

While I was waiting at Great Fountain this afternoon, I heard a new theory.  One person was using the state of overflow to guess the time of the previous eruption.  With Riverside that method works because the time from start of an eruption to the start of overflow is the constant in Riverside's intervals; the length of overflow is the variable in the interval.  But with Great Fountain, overflow is the constant and the length of time from the start of an eruption to the start of overflow is the variable.  Or at least, that's what my data over the years shows.

 

While I was watching the Gemini series, we had a slight sunset.  At one point there was enough of a break at the horizon that a single streak of gold painted the dark gray sky behind White Dome.  Slightly later there was a small section of sky painted with a delicate pink and peach.  As I passed by Hot Lake, I could see a sandhill crane standing along the edge of the lake.

 

On the way home, about halfway between Biscuit Basin and Black Sand Basin a bunny with an apparent suicide wish darted across the road in front of the pickup.  I was afraid I would hear the tires "thump" as I instictively hit the brakes.  Thankfully it made it across my lane successfully.

 

Lynn Stephens

 

 

 

 

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