[Geysers] Yellowstone report 6/16

[Lynn Stephens]

THIS POST IS FOR THE PERSONAL USE OF THE SUBSCRIBERS OF THIS LISTSERV AND IS NOT TO BE

REPRODUCED FOR ANY OTHER PURPOSE, INCLUDING PUBLICATION IN THE SPUT.

 

I didn't stay out for last night's Beehive eruption, but I did walk up on the hill.  While I was walking up, I noticed a family peering intently at the rocks and runoff channel across the boardwalk (toward Old Faithful) from Sulphide Spring.  When I got there, there was a small snake curled up on the rocks, catching insects for its dinner.  

 

Tara called Beehive at 2108 (6/15, I = 14h43m).  I forgot to mention--the Close to Cone Indicator bubbled up a few times during the 6/15 morning eruptoin of Beehive, but there was no action preceding Beehive.  Someone recently asked how long the Indicator continues after Beehive stops.  I only have 11 observations where I have been able to obtain both the start time of Beehive and the stop time of the Indicator to the nearest second.  As in prior years though, the values vary from 2-1/2 to 3 minutes, with a mean of 2m52s and a median of 2m53s.  I still haven't found any correlation between the length of the Indicator's lead time and the length of time it continues after Beehive starts.  (Lead times for those eleven eruptions vary from 8m13s to 18m20s with a mean of 13m31s and a median of 13m20s.)

 

This morning while I was cooking breakfast at the DNBSPL, I watched 5 birds with orangish-tan head and necks, stilt legs, long beaks, white bodied with dark wings.  The birds were bobbing up and down in the pond in the meadow across (north) from the asphalt trail.  A check of my "Birds of North America" birdbook confirmed that they were American avocets.  Katy Duffy confirmed that the teensy tiny bird bobbing along between the two adult sandhill cranes is indeed a young chick.  As I watched a pair of coyotes scouting the DNBSPL this morning, I agreed with her comment "Hopefully the coyotes won't get the colt."

 

Speaking of birds, I watched an osprey this morning at the Steel Bridge with a HUGE fish.  The bird was so heavy, the osprey was struggling to make any forward progress during its flight.

 

Later this morning I saw one of the adult sandhill cranes in the meadow southwest of Ranger Pool.  Perhaps the other one is incubating an egg and we'll have a chick out there again this summer.

 

The last bird note for today--I mistakenly wrote that Bill and Carol Beverly had seen a scarlet tanager in the River Group.  The bird they saw was quite colorful, but I should have written my notes more carefully because it was a western tanager.  I apologize for providing the wrong information.

 

Scott will probably post all the times for geysers that I have, with the possible exception of an Atomizer major, 0541ie water, and a Till major 1021 (double interval 18h30m).

 

A herd of bison caused traffic tie-ups on Firehole Lake Drive more than once today, but nothing like the 2h23m jam MaryBeth was caught in yesterday.  Yes, she timed EVERY minute of the jam!  Coming back from Great Fountain, a small herd in the meadow north of Biscuit Basin had traffic backed up all the way to the Old Faithful overpass because one of the bulls was about 10 feet from the east side of the road, so every northbound vehicle had stop in the road to take pictures, video, etc.

 

As I was leaving Great Fountain (which had a very weak second, third, and fourth bursts, so, unless it has a really strong eruption about 1 am, will probably back up tomorrow afternoon), the Firehole Lake bull elk was feeding at the south edge of the meadow.  His antlers continue to grow thicker, longer, and he continues to add points.  I think he has four points on both sides at this time.

 

Overheard at Great Fountain--

     Child on a tour "That (pointing to White Dome) looks like a volcano."

     Tour guide's response "That's because it is a volcano."

 

     Same tour guide got a prior name for Great Fountain half right--He said it used to be called "Architectural Geyser," instead of Architectural Fountain.

 

Since I don't have much geyser news, I'll try to jinx the various theories about White Dome's impact on Great Fountain by doing some number crunching.  I have recorded 136 intervals for White Dome, with the following distribution:

 

10-14 minutes                     11                    8.1%

15-24 minutes                     51                  37.5%

25-34 minutes                     40                  29.4%

35-44 minutes                     13                    9.6%

45-54 minutes                     11                    8.1%

55-64 minutes                      3                     2.2%

> 64 minutes                        7                     5.1%

 

So far this season, White Dome has been remarkably well behaved with 2/3 (66.9%) of the intervals between 15 and 34 minutes, and 3/4 (76.5%) of the intervals between 15 and 44 minutes.

 

Lynn Stephens 

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