[Geysers] Fan and Mortar 8 July 2010

[Ben Hoppe]

If I decide I am not too lazy, I will send in a report from the past few
days, but here is a report about the most important thing from the last few
days. It felt like we would never get this eruption to come, or at least not
while I was here. For those who were around the last couple days, I
apologize for my loud complaining that the geysers wouldn't do anything.

Just as background, on Tuesday (7/6), we had event cycles up the wazoo. One
had a triple pause, one had a double pause, but neither had sustained water
levels to get anyone too excited. Wednesday (7/7) there was some sort of a
change in the system, and we had NO event cycles. The same pattern happened
today (7/8). It was weird in that Upper Mortar was very frequent in its
roars. It would huff loudly just before most cycles began (where River would
turn on). Sometimes water would even be visible. Before some of the longer
cycles, not only would Upper Mortar huff and puff, but the Main Vent of Fan
would also roar loudly, and Bottom Vent would get denser water. When the
minor vents of Fan came on, Gold acted almost like it was in a lock. It put
waves of water out constantly playing 3-5 feet. It was impressive and scary
at the same time. The water level would hold until about one or two minutes
after Angle would turn on. I was half-expecting one of these cycles to just
go into lock without any other events. Here are the sequence of events that
led up to the eruption. Just as an extra note, when I have "normal water
levels," I am referring to water levels in Gold where it does not act like
it's in lock like it had for the last 2 days.

1501 River and Gold Vents on with normal water levels
1505 Angle on
1522 River off
1534 Main Vent roar
1550 Upper Mortar huff
1550 River on
1555-1557 Loud Main Vent roaring
1557 River Pause
1559-1630 Main Vent splashing (some large splashes as tall as the sinter
wall next to East Vent)
1610 River on (duration of last pause = 13 minutes)
1618 Upper Mortar huff
1615 River Pause - Double Pause
1631-1656 Bottom Vent Erupting
1655 River on
1657 Gold on
1701 Angle on

>From the moment Angle turned on, I was almost sure we would get an eruption.
High Vent was pouring water out constantly, and Gold was playing 6 feet high
almost without stopping as well.
1704 High Vent constantly 2-3 feet, Gold 6 feet
1708 Lock in High (~12 feet) and Gold (~8 feet)
1709 East Vent initiates the eruption (I am pretty sure, I was going pretty
insane at this point.)
1719 First pause
1743 Last water = duration 34 minutes

The eruption was fantastic. The wind was changing quite a lot throughout the
eruption, though there was not much wind anyways. Sometimes it blew it
towards the river, other times towards the boardwalk. The sun backlit the
eruption every now and then but would also duck behind the clouds for a few
minutes at a time. Lower Mortar took a couple minutes to join into the
eruption but was as big as I have ever seen it. Karen Low estimated it at
about 40 feet, I probably exaggerated by saying it was about 50 feet, but it
was large as was Upper Mortar. Fan put water just across the gravel/asphalt
trail.

When I manage to get pictures uploaded, I will post a link here to the
listserv.

-Ben Hoppe

-- 
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in
me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who
loved me and gave himself for me. - Galatians 2:20
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