[Geysers] Norris Disturbance

[Bill Johnson]

I'll second the thanks, and also the interesting stuff about Vixen, on which
I have two additional observations, one with a question attached.

First, we were there with the Thompsons for one major (on 8/30), and noticed
that during the major, Vixen was bringing up quite a number of small rocks.
We didn't see any rocks during the several minors that we saw.  Second, and
the question: both minors and majors were erupting crystal-clear water --
which we found interesting because of the oft-reported tendency of Norris
geysers to erupt muddy, or at least slightly dirty, water at Disturbance
time.  I'd never seen Vixen before, Disturbance or no Disturbance; was it
one that got muddy during Disturbances in the past?

-- Bill.

On Thu, Sep 2, 2010 at 10:23 PM, Bruce Jensen <bpnjensen at yahoo.com> wrote:

>   Thanks, Denise.  Rich Henderson and I observed Vixen Geyser for 5.5
> hours on the 26th of August, and came away very impressed - many eruptions
> in that time frame, including one major of 24+ minutes.  Astounding!  Also
> Daughter of Green Dragon spraying/splashing to 20 feet, Pearl in constant
> play, and a substantial eruption of Gray Lakes. We hope to have a Sput
> article on Vixen coming up.
>
> Bruce Jensen,
> California, USA
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> "[Yellowstone] is a fabulous country, the only fabulous country; it is the
> one place where miracles not only happen, but where they happen all the
> time." ~ Thomas Wolfe
>
> --- On *Thu, 9/2/10, Denise Herman <npstora at gmail.com>* wrote:
>
>
> From: Denise Herman <npstora at gmail.com>
> Subject: [Geysers] Norris Disturbance
> To: geysers at lists.wallawalla.edu
> Date: Thursday, September 2, 2010, 2:01 PM
>
>
>  The following is based mostly on observations by visitors and staff, with
> some correlations with downloaded information from loggers deployed in the
> basin.
>
>
> Norris Geyser Basin Disturbance 2010
>
> Since disturbance began, Pearl Geyser began erupting for the first time
> this season.  Veteran’s crater is dry.  Sagebrush springs, including Mini
> Pearl, are quite actively erupting.  Curiously, Porkchop’s temperature has
> dropped since the start of disturbance. Emerald and Cistern are at rolling
> boils. There is a strange spike on 8/25 on Echinus’ channel temperature
> logger, but no corresponding spike in discharge into Tantalus, so we’re not
> certain that we had an Echinus eruption.  The weir data shows a large
> spike in discharge in Tantalus occurring on 8/28, but we are not sure what
> has caused that.  The disturbance is affecting both Porcelain and Back
> Basin, with increased temperatures recorded on both sides.  Constant
> Geyser has really tapered off since disturbance, and temperature loggers on
> Steamboat seem to confirm that it has been “zapped” since the start of
> disturbance (one curious thing with Steamboat this season—it seems to have a
> cycle of 3 days of minor eruptions, then a lull for around 12 hours…hmm…).
> Minor eruptions are less frequent and powerful than before.  The most
> exciting change has been with Vixen Geyser.  The first reported eruption
> of Vixen for the season was 6/30, and intervals were pretty long—around 1
> hour or so between, and eruptions were minor.  Since the disturbance
> began, intervals have shortened to roughly 20-25 minutes, with some major
> eruptions.  We had our first report of disturbance events on 8/26, but
> downloads from the loggers indicate that the disturbance really began 8/24.
>
> Disturbance seems to be going strong!
>
> Denise Herman
>
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