[Geysers] Fan & Mortar details, August 30, 2012

[Tara Cross]

Fan and Mortar erupted at 0913 on August 30.  The events were called by Pat Snyder.  Here are the details:

0747 River on
0756 Main Vent splash
0757 River off (River pause)
0813 River
0821 River off (2nd River pause)
0825 Bottom Vent (d~15m)
0840 Bottom Vent
0846 River on
0848 Gold on
0857 Angle on
0900 Upper Mortar huffing
0905 Upper Mortar splash
0911 Lock
0913 Fan & Mortar, East Vent start, d=34m

There were three event cycles seen in progress on the 28th.  In all three cases, Brian Roskusky called that Bottom Vent was in eruption and there was Main Vent splashing.  When the events started and whether there were any pauses is unknown.  I watched Fan & Mortar all day on the 29th.  Cycles were mainly organized and lasted 45-75 minutes.  However, there were several things that Jim Scheirer pointed out that were new to me (Jim had also observed them during the previous interval).  Unless it was a very short cycle (there were 2 all day), Main Vent was roaring during every off period and there was very little activity from Angle while River was off.  There would sometimes be huffs from Upper Mortar during off periods as well, and Bottom Vent would splash with each cycle before River came on.  The water levels were quite good all day long.  There was one point I even thought it might do what it had done with the previous eruption and just go into lock out of a non-event cycle.  With most cycles there was huffing and puffing in Upper Mortar toward the end of the cycle, about 20-30 minutes after the start of River.  Finally in the evening there was a "normal" event cycle with Main Vent splashing and a double pause.  The water levels were variable but did not hold.  Fan & Mortar were under observation until 0115 on the 30th.  It was checked several times in the early morning before Pat Snyder offered to go down and watch.  Congratulations to Pat for calling her first eruption!

A couple notes about the eruption cycle:  The water levels started out not looking great, but improved as the cycle progressed.  The first activity in Upper Mortar, a good strong huff, was only 14 minutes after River.  That was about the time we used to look for water in Upper Mortar back in 2001 when it was having mostly Upper Mortar initiated starts (starts that are triggered by Upper Mortar when Fan's vents are NOT in a lock), and earlier than I had seen Upper Mortar activity on previous cycles.  The first water in Upper Mortar was at 19 minutes.  The water levels looked good for several minutes, but it was not a true lock until 25 minutes in.

It was a strong eruption by both geysers, and Lower Mortar was particularly impressive.  There was a lovely rainbow a few minutes into the eruption.

--Tara Cross
fanandmortar at hotmail.com
 		 	   		  
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