[Geysers] West Thumb Report

[David Monteith]

                              From: 
snowmoon at mesanetworks.net
                                To: 
geysers-owner at lists.wallawalla.edu


                           Subject: 
West Thumb Report
                              Date: 
Wed, 2 Jun 2010 19:13:03 -0700

Hi - When I'm on the road, I can't post as I normally can and I don't
have permission to switch email addresses back and forth. Could you
possibly forward this on to the list? I'd appreciate it. Thanks!

Janet
-----------------------------------------------------------
I headed into the Park last Sunday (30 May 2010)  to see what all had
changed since last fall when I visited. Taking my photo references, and
comparing more as I've processed images, here are the changes I saw:

Paint Pots - They're looking quite different - the main pool is still
basically a milky white, but there are two or three mud cones forming
this year so far. BIG difference in the photo comparison I show on my
blog 
http://snowmoon.us/blog/?p=1833
That orange pool in the photo is at a constant boiling and it seems that
two new smallish bubblers have emerged. One to the 'left' of the orange
pool in the photo and one closer to the observation spot across from
where I stood. The one to the left of the orange pool kept at hard and
rocking boil much to the delight of two boys having a ball with their
parents.

Surging Spring - MUCH more full than last fall - now in overflow and has
heavy boiling in the center - last fall it was a brilliant opaque green
and this year it seems more clear and is certainly bright blue. Lots of
steam, though, so I want to see this on a warmer day. No overflow coming
in from Collapsing Pool.

Ledge - Lower than last fall and now dark orange - almost brown on the
grey day I was there.

Collapsing Pool - Still blue and clear, but the water level has really
dropped.

Percolating Spring - The water is almost out of sight.

Perforated Pool - Same as last fall.

Ephedra - Looks about the same - maybe slightly lower water level.

Blue Funnel - Water is opaque this year. It was clear every time I was
there last year.

The pool across the boardwalk from Blue Funnel - It appears the microbes
lining the crater are sloughing off.

Pool across(ish) the boardwalk from Twin Geyser - The water level is
quite a bit lower.

Twin - Low water but still visible in both vents. The "right" vent had a
slightly higher water level, but both vents were boiling.

Abyss - Microbes lining the crater seem to be sloughing off here as
well.

Black Pool - It looked the same as last fall - or as much as I could
tell through the steam.

Fishing Cone's side vent - The water wasn't spouting out, but rather
seemed more to just sway back and forth with a few sloshes out of the
vent.

Lakeshore - The vents still sat above the water level of the lake. The
larger one was bubbling, but not as hard as when I saw it last fall. The
smaller vent also bubbling.

Unnamed feature near Lakeside Spring - The runoff channel seems to have
eroded quite a bit over the winter. Last year I saw it go through 5
minute cycles of the water rising, spurting out some and then dropping
out of sight. It seemed as though there had to have been larger
eruptions or at least larger volumes of water coming out with the size
of the runoff channel, but I never did witness whatever it was doing.

Lakeside Spring - The water level is down a bit, but it's still in
overflow.

Seismic Pool - Cool enough to have a greenish lining to it again.

Bluebell - Hot (lots of steam), clear, blue and bubbles rising just as
it did last fall.

I'll work at getting more photos posted on my blog as soon as I can.  

Janet White
SnowMoon Photography
http://snowmoon.us
janet at snowmoon.us