[Geysers] Yellowstone June 26

[Lynn Stephens]

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

FORWARDED OR REPRODUCED FOR ANY OTHER PURPOSE, INCLUDING PUBLICATION, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, IN

THE SPUT OR ANY OTHER PUBLICATION.

 

Either one member of the bison herd that has been roaming around between Old Faithful and Midway or one of the two bulls that have been stopping traffic between Old Faithful and Midway met its demise this morning.  The first attempt to move the evidence was apparently thwarted by a rather large bison standing near the deceased.  Thankfully, by the time I left for the Lower Basin the roadway had been cleared.

 

The morning started with light drizzle at Great Fountain, which turned to pounding rain.  Great Fountain erupted at 0910 (of=82, p=2)Most of us watched the first burst, which included some good waterfalls, then left for other pursuits.

 

As I was headed back to Old Faithful, I was calculating various possibilities for windshield geysers in my head.  I had discarded Till since Thursday evening's eruption at 19:36 plus about 18 hours would put the next eruption at 13:30.  As I rounded the corner at Midway, I saw a steam cloud from Till.  Redoing my calculations, I still arrived at about 2:30 am for the overnight eruption, which would mean the minor series should have ended before 6:30 am.  The steam cloud persisted as I drove south toward Till.  When I arrived at the turnout to the steel bridge, I could see that both vents were still ejecting water.  Till--major 0940ie, ended 0951.  

 

Assuming a 30 minute duration for the eruption, the start would have been ABOUT 0920, an interval of 13h45m from start of one major to estimated start of the next witnessed major.  Different editions of Scott's book (I don't have them all here for reference, so can't cite specific ones and specific quotes) have indicated that although Till's intervals are usually about 9-11 hours, occasionally it will have an interval of about 5 hours.  In the 20+ years I've been watching Till, I've never been able to record an interval that didn't fit the 9-11 hours, until now.  Apparently it had an interval of about 5 hours or so plus an interval of about 9 hours or so overnight 6/25-6/26.  (Two intervals averaging less than 7 hours each, or a single interval of 13-3/4 hours each seem less likely than a 9 + 5 interval scenario.)

 

I stayed to time the minor series after the 0940ie major.  The minor series was consistent with other series I have recorded over the years.  The series included 19 minor eruptions.  The last minor was at 1259, which would be ABOUT 3h40m after the estimated start of the major.

 

I returned later in the afternoon and Till had its next major eruption at 1846, an interval of ABOUT 9h25m after the estimated start of the preceding major.  I didn't stay to get any details of the 1846 eruption.

 

While I was waiting for the early evening eruption of Till, I timed one closed interval of Flood (major to major with no intermediate or minor eruptions between the two majors) of 59 minutes.  The next major eruption was ie 60 minutes later.

 

Thunderstorms off and on all day gave me an excuse to put in a short gazing day today.

 

Wildlife observations--Early in the morning I saw a few cow elk and at least two calves here at Old Faithful.  I also saw a pair of coyotes hunting in the meadow on the west side of the main highway between the overpass and the government housing area.  While I was watching the Till minor series, the bison herd in the meadow south of the Steel Bridge had backed up traffic in the southbound lane.  A pair of ravens, looking very wet and bedraggled, decided to become roadside beggars.  One stood on the pavement on the north bound side of the entrance to the steel bridge, the other stood on the south bound side.  They were hopping up and down, performing for the cars that slowly rolled past, or stopped due to the bison jam.  People leaned out their windows to take pictures of the ravens begging.  Many people rewarded the beggars by tossing food out the windows to them.  Finally one of them apparently decided that two beggars in the same location meant one of them wasn't getting its fair share so it flew off toward the south to establish a new panhandling site.

 

When I woke up early this (6/27) morning, the sky was bright with stars.  As I suspected, it was cold outside.  When I went to throw a bag of trash into the garbage bin, the lid was iced shut.  There was a sheet of glare ice on the pickup windshield.  The back rooms of the visitor center were not uncomfortable, but when I opened the door to the main room, it was icy cold.  I think the heat in the main room has been turned off because once the visitor center opens, body heat from all the occupants makes it uncomfortably warm.  But for awhile this morning people are going to want to keep their coats on.

 

Lynn Stephens

_________________________________________________________________
Insert movie times and more without leaving Hotmail®. 
http://windowslive.com/Tutorial/Hotmail/QuickAdd?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_HM_Tutorial_QuickAdd_062009
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: </geyser-list/attachments/20090627/97f06de2/attachment.html>