[Geysers] Fan & Mortar 9/12

[Lynn Stephens]

     Dean, Tara and Graham shared the night shift overnight 9/11-9/12 with help from Kitt.  The only item of interest occurred about 11 pm when Dean made the radio call that River Vent had been off for awhile and Main Vent huffed before the next River Vent turned on.  Even though he started calling early that water levels didn't look good, we all went out.  The crystal clear night sky, a few meteors, a bull elk bugling, and an owl hooting were our rewards.

     I took over babysitting from Kitt about 7 am.  From 6:35 until sometime during the resulting Fan & Mortar eruption, I listened to Angle go spsst, spsst, spritz constantly.  Jere B said today's headline was "Angle continues its promiscuous splashing."  The longest angle pause I had was for two minutes from 11:27 to 11:29.  With that one exception, Angle was erupting every minute.  Every one of the River Vent starts I recorded was followed by the notation "ANQ" (Angle Never Quit).  Every River Vent start was accompanied by an eruption of Gold.  The cycles preceding the eruption all consisted of short Riiver Vent "offs"; for example, RV on at 10:13, off at 10:27; on at 10:32 off 10:56; on at 11:11 off 11:27; on at 11:41, off 12:00.

     The final cycle started with a River Vent on at 12:10/ANQ/Gold on shortly after River Vent turned on.  There was nothing exciting about the water levels.  Gold 2/3 did not come on with Gold.  Gold seldom pooled.  Angle was intermittently spritzing, the way it had been all morning.  High was splashing but nothing exciting.  I waited through the 10 minute mark and water levels still did not look anywhere encouraging.  Then I turned my back on it to give a summary of last week's meeting to Bill Warnock and some other people.  That was just one of my mistakes.  First, I never should have said that I thought even if we didn't get Main Vent splashing, we at least had to have Angle off for 20 minutes or so.  Second, I should have listened to Tara and watched after the 10 minute mark.  (Dean's experience of water levels not looking good until the 22 minute mark wouldn't have done me any good.)

     Maureen Edgerton said I started making radio calls at 12:25.  Bill Warnock had said, "Lynn, look at High.  What's it doing?"  I turned around, saw High going two feet, Gold wasn't doing anything, and Angle was merrily spriting away.  But High looked like it had a mushroom shape to its eruption, so I grabbed my radio.

     My rechargeable batteries don't like to transmit, although they receive quite well.  Earlier in the morning Jere B was giving me grief about changing out the rechargeable for the alkaline batteries.  Thankfully I had done so because I was able to start transmitting immediately.  As I grabbed my radio, I was also starting to grab the contents of my pack, which were scattered all over on the ground and the bench, so as I made the first two transmissions, I couldn't see my watch.  (Some of my stuff didn't make it into my pack; it just stayed on the bench covered by a waterproof jacket.  I did get my pack and Jere's pack carried to the end of the bridge.  As it turned out, the wind was blowing toward the river during the first part of the eruption and by the time it switched toward the path, there was only fine mist coming past the benches.)

     First I announced High was going 2 feet but Gold was not pooling.  Then a few moments later Gold joined in, so I relayed that information over the radio, saying at  uhhh minutes in, oh it's 16 minutes in, water levels are improving.  Water levels just kept getting better every second, so I think my next transmission may have been that High was 4 feet, Gold was 2 feet and the people at Oblong should hurry down to Fan & Mortar.  Again, within what seemed like only moments, High was 6 feet, then 8 feet, then a lock at 12:28, followed by one splash from East Vent and the eruption at 12:30, 20 minutes after the start of River Vent.  I can't remember ever seeing the water levels come that quickly to lock status when the water levels had not even been interesting let alone exciting at the 10 minute mark.

    Thankfully most of the gazers that had left F&M had gone no farther than Oblong (and Grotto), so almost all of them were able to get to Fan & Mortar to see the start.  Although there were no rainbows, the strength of the eruption, sun, blue sky, and the wind direction for the first part of the eruption all combined to produce a top-notch viewing experience.  

    So far this summer, 3 of the 15 eruptions that have been seen from the start occurred without any splashing in Main Vent.  The first two at least had a long break in Angle's spitting.  With the first one, high water levels at the 12 minute mark prompted a radio call that gave about 10 minutes warning.  With the second one, Dean was able to give 8 minutes warning.  With this one, I was able to give only 5 minutes warning.  I don't like this trend!

    Graham, Dean and Tara all left today, as well as George and Sue Schroeder, and Kitt, who had come in for the weekend.  Cynthia Barwin and Pat Snyder left on Friday.  Jere Bush leaves in the morning.  The radios are currently going to be quiet in the coming weeks.

 

Lynn Stephens

 

 

_________________________________________________________________
Bing brings you health info from trusted sources.
http://www.bing.com/search?q=pet+allergy&form=MHEINA&publ=WLHMTAG&crea=TXT_MHEINA_Health_Health_PetAllergy_1x1
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: </geyser-list/attachments/20090913/2662db93/attachment.html>