[Geysers] Summer "breakages" of Beehive

[Andrew Hafner]

Hello all,

 

  Near the end of last month, there were some reports on this list regarding mid-cycle activity by Beehive's Indicator, and unusually short intervals of Beehive itself. In the past, this activity has sometimes been a precursor to what amounts to a summer "breakage" i of Beehive, in which the Indicator essentially takes over the activity from Beehive itself. Reading these reports made me look at my back issues of The Sput, to see how this compared to activity in past years.

  Beehive experienced "breakages" during the summer months in 1998, 1999, and 2000. In early July of 1998, Beehive began having short intervals of around 11 hours, but the Indicators had long lead times of over 30 minutes. By July 14, Beehive was having false Indicators. By the end of the month, Beehive appeared to be fixed, but false Indicators resumed in early August. This breakage did not resolve itself until mid-to-late October

  On June 15, 1999, Beehive had a string of 6 mid-cycle Indicators, and the Indicator leading up to the eruption which ended that interval had a lead time of 34 minutes. By June 27, Beehive was broken. This breakage did not resolve itself until late October.

  In 2000, signs of a breakage starting appearing in late May, with mid-cycle actvity by the Indicator, a long lead time by the Indicator prior to one eruption of 43 minutes, and an unusually short interval of only 8 hours 46 minutes. There was more mid-cycle activity in early June, but for much of the rest of the month Beehive seemed "normal," erupting once or twice each day. By 6/25, false Indicators were the rule. By mid-August, however, Beehive was fixed.

  All of these "breakages" are described in great detail in the geyser activty reports in the Sputs covering 1998, 1999, and 2000, for the summer months of those years, with firsthand accounts, so I'm not going to go any further here. I do see a bit of a trend, with all of the breakages beginning in mid to late June, and signs of them appearing some weeks earlier.

  Here is an idea for someone looking to write an article for the GOSA Transactions.

  On July 2, 2001, Beehive had two false Indicators, but nothing else aberrant happened. There was an interval of 9 hours 59 minutes on 7/4,  and another of 9 hours 53 minutes on 9/5. The second sub-10-hour interval happened the same day as Giantess, and may have been an effect of it.

  Last year, on 7/9/09, Kitt Barger saw "spitting" around the sides of the Indicator's vent before it actually filled with water. On that same day, there was a mid-cycle, false Indicator at 1549, which had a duration of about 3 minutes. Beehive erupted at 1853, closing an interval of 9 hours 57 minutes. A report on the listserver by Ben Hoppe noted that Beehive seemed to "struggle" to erupt, and when it did start, it seemed more like the "finishing kick of a race." He added that the eruption's duration was 30 to 60 seconds less than normal. These events may have been just a "post effect" of the 7/6/09 Giantess eruption, for Beehive went on to have a nice season.

  In 1992, Beehive had a breakage that began on August 1, and did not resolve until September 1.

In 1994, another "false Indicator" series began on June 28 and continued until July 12. Both of these were described by Scott Bryan in a past volume of the GOSA Transactions.

  That brings us to this year, where we have had reports of mid-cycle Indicator activity and short intervals of Beehive in late June. What does this mean? I have no way of knowing. Thus far this summer, Beehive is having a very nice season. (And may it continue, for all of the mid-summer, late summer, and fall gazers.)

 

Andrew Hafner

 

 
 		 	   		  
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