[Geysers] Geyser Report 6/22 (Stephens)

[Lynn Stephens]

THIS MESSAGE IS FOR THE PERSONAL USE OF THE READERS OF THIS LISTSERV AND IS NOT TO BE REPRODUCED FOR ANY OTHER PURPOSE, INCLUDING PUBLICATION IN THE SPUT.
 
Rather than describe my day chronologically, I'm going to work my way from north to south.
 
At Fountain Paint Pots I enjoyed another early morning eruption of Fountain that started at 0659, duration 30 minutes.  Even though viewing conditions are not ideal with the early morning eruptions, I like them because I can hear the "whoosh" sound that alerts you that Fountain is going to start about 15-20 seconds before Fountain the first jet of water actually comes up.  (I also got a few rainbows during the eruption this morning.)  This eruption was one of the infrequent eruption where Jet did not erupt during Fountain's eruption.  (I only waited 6 minutes after I arrived before Fountain started so I can't say with 100% certainty that Jet was not active prior to the start of Fountain, but in all cases where Jet doesn't erupt at the beginning of Fountain, Jet has always been inactive prior to the start of Fountain.)  Jet had a 5 second minor eruption a minute after Fountain ended, then rumbled 7 minutes later, and had a regular eruption 9 minutes after the minor eruption.  Twig did not erupt with this eruption of Fountain so I don't have another Twig duration to report.
 
Maintenance had Firehole Lake Drive closed from about 10:30 to noon today.  I didn't realize the road had been closed because the maintenance vehicle didn't move me out when it came through after locking the gate at the entrance.  After about 25 minutes of no cars coming through in the middle of the morning, I finally decided the road must be closed.  I got the start of overflow and was beginning to think I might have a noon eruption of Great Fountain all to myself.  The road opened at noon.  Great Fountain erupted at 1222.  Bruce and Pamela Jensen arrived in time for the eruption, as did a handful of visitors.  The eruption was pretty, but fairly lacksidaisical.  There was a fourth burst, but it didn't expend much energy.  Somehow my report of events at the Lower Basin didn't get through to the OFVEC so the parking lot was full of people waiting for the next eruption when I came through again about 1900.  Someone later told Byron Taylor and myself that people had been told the next eruption window opened at 6 pm.
 
There was a deer on Firehole Lake Drive this morning.
 
While I was waiting for Great Fountain I recorded five intervals of A-0:  20 minutes, 18, 20, 19, and 21.
 
In the Pink Cone group:  Pink Cone has backed up into daylight.  Byron and I caught the start of an eruption at 2025.  It was an explosive start.  There had been only one tiny spit of water a few minutes before the start.  When Pink Cone started it didn't play around with any preliminary splashing to build to an eruption.  Instead it had a "Herb Warren" type splash that just kept going into the eruption.  Most of the day it had been quite breezy (although not quite as windy as it was the day before.)  The breeze stopped about 2000 or so.  The force of the eruption combined with the lack of wind resulted in one of the highest eruptions of Pink Cone I have ever seen.
 
Interval between eruptions of Pink that I saw was 12h7m.  I have no idea whether this was a double or a triple interval.  During the last week of May all the durations of Pink I recorded were basically 7 minutes.  This past week I've seen more variability, recording durations of 3-7 minutes.
 
Interval between eruptions of Labial that I saw was 11h39m.  Presumably this was a double interval.
 
Till had a major eruption at 0622, the expected time using 10 1/4 to 10 1/2 hour interval.  Not long before Till erupted I saw a white pick-up with Arizona plates drive past me headed south.  At the fisherman's pull-out it turned around and drove past me headed north.  Just as Till started to erupt the vehicle came back south and pulled into the entrance to the Steel Bridge in front of me.  The driver rolled down the passenger window and yelled at me to ask me if the trail was closed.  When I gave him the bad news that it was probably closed for at least the next two years, he asked if I worked for the Park Service.  I told him I didn't, but he could get out and read the signs if he didn't believe me.  He was quite disgusted because he had driven two days from Arizona "just to see the view of the pool from the bluff."  Somehow I didn't quite believe him when he claimed that was the only reason he had come to Yellowstone.
 
I spent 4 hours this afternoon at Artemisia/Atomizer and was rewarded first with an eruption of Artemisia (duration 20 minutes).  This is the first eruption reported since the one I saw on Sunday morning so I'm not guessing anything about the interval.  Perusal of geysertimes indicates Artemisia is erupting at ABOUT 14-25 hour intervals.  I'll be up there most of Thursday (6/23), not waiting for Artemisia, but instead trying to close an interval on Atomizer majors.  Thankfully Atomizer waited until 6 minutes after Artemisia ended before Atomizer started its major eruption.  Bob Bailey reported an Atomizer minor at 1212 on geysertimes.  Christina (sorry I don't have a last name and am not certain of the spelling of her first name) was waiting for Artemisia/Atomizer when I arrived.  When I asked if she had seen anything from Atomizer, I wrote down that she told me there was a minor at 1242.  I'll try to get clarification on the time.  In any event, Atomizer did not have another minor until 1645 when it had a 55 second minor.  Limited data, but the 3 hour plus interval between minors I recorded the other day, plus this 4 hour plus interval between minors is consistent with the long 20-24 hour major to major intervals I started recording a few years ago.  Interval from major to major of 106h58m yields an average of 21h24m for five intervals.  I have no idea what the minimum, maximum, or range of major to major intervals is.  Hopefully I'll get one closed interval on Thursday and perhaps another on Friday before I have to leave the Park.
 
Lynn Stephens
 		 	   		  
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