[Geysers] FW: West Thumb Report

[Carlton Cross]

Forward from Janet White.

From: mailman-bounces at lists.wallawalla.edu [mailto:mailman-bounces at lists.wallawalla.edu] On Behalf Of snowmoon at mesanetworks.net
Sent: Wednesday, June 02, 2010 7:13 PM
To: geysers-owner at lists.wallawalla.edu
Cc: janet at snowmoon.us
Subject: West Thumb Report

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
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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
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