[Geysers] Fountain and Great Fountain

[Maureen Edgerton]

Fountain and Great Fountain

Hey all.  I thought I would send an update about Fountain and Great Fountain (GF in this note.) Great Fountain has been doing some long intervals e dry now and again.   I have not stayed to see how long the durations have been of GF as I have been trying to observe Fountain at the same time.  The long intervals throw me off, especially if I cannot find out the electronic time from the VC.  I am so grateful for the early morning times they often give me, and I have also taken to finding out the early morning electronic times of Castle and Grand as well and posting those on GeyserTimes.  Hopefully they have been helpful.

Back to GF.  I have not observed any more super bursts.  And the blue bubbles have been few and far between.  Still, each eruption offers an amazing sight that I never tire of seeing.  We have been lucky as even in the nastiest of weather, the sun somehow finds a way to peep out for the eruption.  

Overflows that I have observed have been very short.  I use 70 to 110 minutes right now for my prediction window as last year we had many observed over 100.  This year I have not witnessed one over 92, though I do not keep track while Lynn is here, so she may have seen that.  One day was 69 minutes, I sure was glad I made it back from upper basin.  The past few days have been a creeping overflow instead of one that results from a crash of GF pool.  Many times before overflow the pool will "crash" to where you cannot see water in the crater.  The water rises quickly once it does rise, and goes into overflow.  Lately it hangs out just below overflow level before finally pushing up to a steady overflow.  

The past few days I have been leaving after the first series to go to Fountain.  Today I can write this while waiting for overflow, Fountain having already erupted for 37 minutes!

Fountain was difficult to find after Lynn departed.  Steve and Ron from SD loved Fountain too and they would catch some later evening eruptions when Lynn and I were out of the park already.  So it took a few days yet I finally found it and have kind of, sort of, figured out what it is doing.  Of course because I write this it will all change, yet that is life with Fountain!  

The daylight eruption durations have been 36 or 37 minutes.  I am guessing that the other eruption might still be a bit longer.  So together, 2 intervals, have been around 22 hours for 3 days now.  Having this happen has made it much easier to find, guessing 1638 and having it erupt at 1651, and then today guessing 1451 and having it be 1458.  That has been nice, and I am sure now will change, yet I will see if tomorrow's is around 1258.

Today I saw a few "outlier" type things during the eruption.  It threw rocks and sinter, sometime good sized  pieces that splashed in the runoff puddles, the entire eruption.  I have seen Fountain throw rocks many times, yet never like this.  Then, Twig began at 1718, only 20 minutes into the eruption.  That was very unexpected.  I started to wonder if Fountain would be closer to its past normal 30 minutes, yet instead we had a 37 minute duration.  There was also no observed (I was checking on GF status so it is possible I missed one) Morning's Thief until after Fountain began.  

Morning's Thief has been having a lot of play before Fountain starts, with the eruptions closest to Fountain start being the biggest bursts.  Some days the third eruption after Fountain start will continue to erupt for quite a few bursts, sometimes staying in eruption for 5 or 6 minutes.  So there is a dual eruption for minutes instead of just a few bursts.  Often times it only boils after the third post Fountain start eruption, like a nice boil on Crested Pool.

Tonight there are a lot of folk at GF, yet it will most likely erupt outside the official window. This frustrates folks, yet it does what it wants!  It did go into a traditional crash, so I have ventured to upper basin to give the VC the time, and send this.  

No signs of Pink Cone erupting during the day these days.  The weather is promising to look more like summer soon.  Stormy tonight.

That's it for now.  

Maureen Edgerton




Sent from my iPad