[Geysers] Geyser Report 1/19 - 1/26/2013

[Graham Meech]

I spent another winter week in the park, arriving at Old Faithful around
noon on Sat 19th and leaving at 1330 on Sat 26th.  Here's a summary of the
main activity.

 

Castle majored all week with intervals around 14-14.5 hours.  It then had a
minor on the 28th based on data on geysertimes.org.

 

Little Squirt was ie on 22 and 25 Jan.  Bronze spring was full every time I
looked but maybe I missed it down.  Big and Little Anemone were active.

 

Plume may have erupted overnight 24-25 Jan based on there being snow just
outside the runoff channel/splash zone and none inside that area.  I think
snow would have been in the runoff area if it had not erupted.  Steve Eide
saw a 12 burst eruption just after I left on the 26th.

 

Beehive appears to have been having 1-2 eruptions a day, being seen most
days in daylight (skipped the 19th and 24th).  There was one no-indicator
eruption (seen by Steve EIde on 23rd) and one short indicator (~4min on
25th) but the others were "normal".

 

I did not spend much time watching Depression.  Its eruptions varied from
very weak (just a couple of small splashes) to decent splashes through the
eruption.   I did not see or hear any activity  from the right vent when it
drained.  The two closed intervals were around 4h.

 

"Mouth Geyser" has enlarged  its crater since September and had short
eruptions (30s to 2min), splashing from the main vent and jetting from the
small round side vent.  Early in the week the eruptions I saw did not fill
the vent with water and had intervals around 10min.  Later in the week it
was filling the main vent and overflowing with intervals closer to 20min.
Since I didn't watch it for long I don't know if there was variable activity
all week or not.

 

A small geyser just above Marmot Cave was active to a couple of inches.  It
appeared to be active most days, stopping and restarting a lot.

 

The Dwarf we see frequently on the webcam (North Dwarf?) appears to be a
perpetual spouter, I never saw it turn off.

 

LIttle Cub and Lion were unchanged.

 

Aurum was solidly in winter mode with observed intervals of 4h8m +- 12m!
After watching a few cycles it was pretty easy to predict the time of the
next eruption based on the amount of steam roaring, gurgling, or splashing.

 

Steve saw a single Plate eruption on the 26th and that day Heart Spring was
milky (and Plume erupted too).  Several unusual things happened that day.

 

Dome was active 1/23-1/25 per webcam and visual sightings.  Intervals
climbed from 20 to 40min over the 3 days.

 

The Sawmill group was the most interesting spot on this trip.  On the 19th I
saw one Churn series before dark and Kristine Branstetter commented that
Sawmill had not erupted all day.  There were two observed Churn series on
the 20th, 3 on the 21st, and 3 on the 22nd with no evidence that Sawmill had
erupted in daylight or overnight.  The pattern was that as Spasmodic and
Penta started to lose water, Churn had a chance to start a series.   Tardy
was having frequent long eruptions as you expect in Penta/Churn mode.
Sawmill managed to erupt on the 23rd (per Steve while I was at Canyon).
Sawmill remained in control until the 26th when there was another Churn
series.  Churn ntervals ranged from 10-20 minutes in series and the longest
series I observed was 6 eruptions but I frequently left due to darkness or
Beehive Indicator calls.  I saw 39 Churn eruptions during this one week
trip, more than I have seen over the prior 16 years combined!

 

On the 20th, Penta erupted and Churn started a series for true Penta/Churn
activity.  After 90 minutes, Penta's main vent switched into roaring steam
phase while the smaller vents continued to erupt water.  This continued for
at least 15 minutes when I had to leave as it was getting dark with no sign
of weakening after a total time of 1h45min.  Based on washed snow in the
runoff channel, I believe Penta also erupted overnight 22-23 and 25-26 Jan,
so roughly 3 day intervals although the activity in the group changed
significantly during the week.

 

Hopefully Steve will report on the unusual activity he observed on the 23rd,
with frequent short Sawmill and Old Tardy eruptions and  short eruptions of
Old Tardy's drain hole.

 

I saw one eruption of Uncertain on 24th when Sawmill was in control.  Bulger
had several majors and frequent minors.  There were a number of long Rift
eruptions but they didn't seem to upset Grand.

 

Grand was very cooperative having an early eruption leaving enough time for
a second one before dark on all but one day:

1/19 -                      1716 T2C

1/20 - 0736 1Q,   1555 D3/G1Q

1/21 - 0730 T1Q, 1431  T2*Q

1/22 - 0725 T2C, 1628 T3C

1/23 - 0838 T1Q, 1718  G1C (data from Steve as I went to Canyon, also 0103E)

1/24 - 0954 T1C                        (also 1829E - the only full day with
one daylight eruption while I was there)

1/25 - 0919 T2*Q, 1651 T2Q (also 0132)

1/26 - 0808 T1Q                        (also 0056E)

I saw 18 bursts in 11 eruptions, ranging from 1-3 bursts.  Recent intervals
have been from 6h10m to 10 hours but many were in the 7-9h range.

 

I spent little time down basin this trip.  Oblong was active with intervals
appearing to be 4-6  hours apart.  Daisy had intervals mostly in the 2h50-3h
range.  Snow at Link and F&M indicate nothing has happened there.  Riverside
and Grotto were active as well as Bijou but I have no real data on them.

 

I had a quick trip to Black Sand Basin and Biscuit Basin.  The unusual
activity was from Jewel with intervals of 15-18min, roughly twice the
interval during September.  In the area inside the boardwalk beyond Mustard
Spring there were three small sputs active that I don't remember seeing
before.  Nothing spectacular, but noteworthy in the winter steam.  Avoca
Spring was still having majors.

 

On the way out of the park on the 26th we stopped at Fountain Paintpots.
Super Frying Pan had started at 1448 (per Yellowstone Tour Guides on
Facebook) and I arrived at 1454 to find it erupting in bursts lasting 1-2min
with the crater draining for 30 minutes before it restarted again.  The
eruption ended at 1503 for a duration of 15min.  I have never seen it have
bursts like that, has anyone else?  A large spring behind Twig, close to the
hillside was full and overflowing with bubbling from a couple of places in
the pool.  It had been reported a few days earlier on Facebook.  I could not
see any evidence of it erupting but keep an eye out for it.

 

That's about it, I did visit Norris, Mud Volcano, and West Thumb on this
trip but nothing erupted.  Ledge Spring at West Thumb was up high and
overflowing, but snow in its runoff channel indicates it had not erupted
recently.  In September it was down low and cool.

 

Only a couple of months to Spring opening weekend.....

 

Graham Meech

 

 

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