[Geysers] Oblong Data from Landis and Bryan

[JEFFREY CROSS]

Scott Bryan reports in his Transactions I (1989) article that series were seen 5 times in July, 1988.  "The geyser is extremely regular within these series.  The first intervals (those from the first to the second eruption) were 2h14m, 2h14m, 2h04m, and 2h05m.  Only one second interval, of 33m, was recorded.  These values in each case are entirely in accord with the observations of 1986-87."

Quoting from Phil's 1988 report:

"These initial eruptions... lasted an average of 7 minutes.  The second eruption of a series followed in an average 2h 14m.  These [2nd] eruptions usually occurred from a pool level near rim top, though on occasion from a level 1-2 feet down or an overflowing pool.  Second eruptions of the series were generally stronger than the first and had a longer average duration of 8 minutes."  "Third eruptions of a series followed the second after an average interval of 35 minutes, and had durations of only 6 1/2 minutes.  Now the pool took 3-4 hours to recover to near rim top.  During the first half of the summer there was only one eruption per series.  From August on there was the possibility of a second or maybe even a third eruption, though the single eruptions were still common.  The average interval between observed series (start to start) was 25 hours."  Landis cites 4 instances of a 3rd eruption occurring.

I'm surprised that Landis said this type of activity began only in August, as I remember sitting at Fan and Mortar in July and seeing people run off toward Grotto every time a steam cloud was sighted from Oblong, with comments being made that series from Oblong were a new observation.

Jeff Cross
jeff.cross at utah.edu

________________________________________
From: geysers-bounces at lists.wallawalla.edu [geysers-bounces at lists.wallawalla.edu] on behalf of Michael Goldberg [goldbeml at ucmail.uc.edu]
Sent: Wednesday, July 08, 2015 6:52 PM
To: Geyser Observation Reports
Subject: [Geysers] Possible sources of Oblong info

As far as I know, the first reports of Oblong series were in 1988, when
Oblong was only erupting every day or so.  There is probably a good
summary in Phil Landis' annual report.

Scott Bryan's article on the Grotto-Giant Complex in Transactions 1
may also discuss Oblong's behavior that year.

Does anyone have these volumes on hand who can look up the details?
I think I know where our family's copies are, but I do not have ready
access to them at the moment.

Thanks,
Michael Goldberg
Michael.Goldberg at uc.edu

On Tue, 7 Jul 2015, Lynn Stephens wrote:

>
> At least one "series" of Oblong eruptions has been seen recently, with
> an interval of about 30 minutes between the two sightings.  In the past
> Oblong series had generally had intervals of about 2 1/2 to 3 hours
> between the first and second eruption, and intervals of about 30 minutes
> between subsequent eruptions.  I am here in Yellowstone without access
> to very much of a research library, other than what's available on the
> internet, and the current edition of Scott's book.  Perhaps someone who
> would like to research past issues of The Sput to provide a more
> detailed history of Oblong's behavior when it was having series and post
> it here on the listserv or send it into Genean for publication in The
> Sput?
>
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