<html xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"> <head> <meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"> <meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 11 (filtered medium)"> <style>  </style> </head> <body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple id="role_body" bottomMargin=7 leftmargin=7 topmargin=7 rightMargin=7> <div class=Section1> This is long, and I’ve divided it into 3 messages.  Suzanne and I were the only people who were there for everything, from Friday AM to the Giant eruption.  The activity was so different and so unusual that a more detailed account might be warranted.  This is Friday’s installment.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> ------<o:p></o:p> A fitting summary to the weekend festivities at Giant was a single word I wrote in my notebook after the 24 min 42 sec hot period at 1047 on Sunday.  I needed to encapsulate the weird behavior, the frustration, the utter confusion that I - and many other gazers - felt.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> The word I wrote was "Insane."<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> And a few minutes after I wrote that, things got REALLY interesting.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Friday.  After all the news of one or more Giant eruptions in the previous 8 days, I didn't know what to expect early Friday morning.  I biked down and from the blacktop saw Bijou jetting lustily, and Mastiff depth-charging.  I figured I'd missed a recent hot period, but the GIP was quite high, filling the lower back area of its basin.  A small stream of water coming off the platform from Mastiff at first seemed like the remnants of a hot period, but after a while I realized that there had been no recent hot period:  The water was from the constant depth-charging - so strong that the little collecting pool to the north of Giant's cone stayed full, and from there flowed west and off the platform.  To show how striking this behavior was, the only time all day that Bijou was NOT jetting to 12 feet+ was during hot periods.  And then, about 5.5 hours into a marathon.  So, too, with Mastiff's surges.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Giant had a hot period at 0850, duration 3m 40s.  It was typical, except that Bijou didn't quit until Mastiff was just below overflow, and at its end Bijou went into a roaring steam phase that slowly converted to water.  Mastiff resumed its depth charges, and the GIP barely lowered.  I called Mike K on my cell phone, and he told me he’d be down at OF later that evening and all day Saturday.  After hearing my account of the activity Mike said he’d be down in the early afternoon instead.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> A second hot period occurred at 1123, D 1m 28s.  Even this modest hot period ended in a Bijou steam phase, and again Mastiff depth-charged. Grotto started at 1203.  Yet another hot period took place at 1215, an interval of only 52 minutes, duration 2m 15s.  And as was the mode of the day, Bijou was in steam phase afterwards.  Additional hot periods took place at 1312, D 3m 14s; 1452, D 1m 5s; and finally at 1610 D 2m.  Bijou was in steam phase after each of these.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Grotto's eruption turned out to be a marathon that took control around 1730, and Bijou finally slowed down.  Doing quick basin math, we figured that the recovery hot period would hold off until dawn, assuming Grotto didn't pull a short - and with what happened on Friday, nothing would be surprising.  <o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> </div> </body> </html>