<html xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:st1="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"> <head> <meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 11 (filtered medium)"> <o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="City"/> <o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"/>  <style>  </style> </head> <body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple> <div class=Section1> Part 3 of 3.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Sunday. Cloudy and cool after two spectacular weather days. At 0600 I radioed on a whim to see if anyone was in the basin, and Diane(? Sorry - from <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Santa Rosa</st1:place></st1:City>, and think that's her name) was already at Giant. Responses to my questions made me realize A) Grotto had a marathon, and B) It had quit around 0430. Ah, Suzanne said. “Giant, take two.”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> We got down there quickly. The GIP was again extraordinarily high, similar to early afternoon the day before. Gazers (those who hadn't had to leave) were apprised of the situation as they arrived in the area and hurried to the cage. At 0806 I saw water low in Mastiff's crater, appearing for a moment or two and dropping. At this point I created a new set of abbreviations for my notebook: MWL, MWM, and MWH - indicating whether the Mastiff water was low, medium, or high. At first the rises came every 25 minutes or so, but around 0904 they started coming faster, and higher. Oblong erupted at 0946, and Julie said that maybe Giant would do something in an hour or so. Heh.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> MWH's first appeared at 0931, and by 1000 rises were occurring every 5-6 minutes. The GIP was going through the same dance, in fact a few gazers just watched from the GIP because its rise/fall was intriguing - and the fact that the trees blocked some of the wind. <o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> At 1026 there was the highest MWH yet, within bare inches of Mastiff overflow. But when it dropped, Bijou came on powerfully, and the next rise took all of 16 minutes and was equally high. The next rise, at 1047 was even higher and we saw Feather begin to overflow.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Feather took off, and Feather's satellite joined almost immediately. Nothing else, except for low surging in Mastiff. But quickly Mastiff dropped and Bijou came to life. <o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> For nearly 23 minutes nothing of interest happened. Just these three vents playing, sometimes dropping slightly, sometimes rising slightly. Sometimes a splash from Giant or one of the vents of Mastiff, but for the most part, just the incessant B, F, and FS.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Somewhere around the 12 minute mark it really began to get annoying. Yes, it was interesting and even longer than the Mastiff solo predecessor activity of the day before. But you're staring at this same thing for a time span basically equal to half of a "24" episode, and a lot less interesting. I called out the activity each minute on the radio, with basically no variation each time. I noted at the 18 minute mark or so that this might be the longest hot period ever. Fireworks were lit to celebrate the 20 minute mark, and a marching band was hired for minute 21. <o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> But then a difference! Around the 22m15s mark, Mastiff rose! Bijou quit. We were anticipating another Mastiff solo, or something equally bizarre. <o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> And Mastiff promptly dropped. Bijou came on, and Feather and its satellite waned. It took nearly 2 minutes for them to give up, utterly exhausted. Total duration was 24m 42s. The crowd was... dejected? Baffled? Who knows - it was a totally odd vibe. We talked of maybe another hot period in a few hours, maybe going to Grand. I had absolutely no idea what just happened, or would happen next, but told Suzanne, Lynne and others that I was NOT leaving the cage for a while. A few wandered over to Grotto to see if it was close to erupting.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> It's then that I wrote "Insane" in my logbook. Nobody argued.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> About 8 minutes later I noticed that the splashes in Mastiff were more consistent with pre-hot period activity than post-hot period play. I stood up, puzzled, and clambered up to stand on the railing behind the bench. Whuh? “I think I see water,” I called. “Maybe steam? No… water.” At that moment Suzanne called out that Bijou was almost off. I called over to the people at the GIP, asking what it was doing. “It’s rising – fast,” they yelled back. I then got on the radio: “Mastiff is rising. I’m not joking. Mastiff is rising.” You could immediately hear shouts and the clomping of many feet on the jugwalk, racing back to the cage. Feather and Feather’s satellite started, almost simultaneously, and the SW vents were steaming and about to start. Hot period… but a new one? Certainly not afterplay. Was the first activity even a hot period?<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> The next ten minutes constituted one of the oddest geyser gazing experiences in my life. Yes, it ended joyously. But the weirdness stays with me more than the ending. Within moments of the start of the hot period, Mastiff was surging to 2 feet, then 4. I dutifully called these on the radio, and when it hit the top of the cone I dutifully called this as well. But after yesterday’s events my emotions were fully in check. Suzanne even said I was pretty blasé about it. Then Mastiff dropped. 30 seconds later, Mastiff rose again. Then it dropped. I looked at KC, who was almost lounging on the bench, and shrugged. Neither of us was getting excited. Again Mastiff rose and surged, again it dropped back. At least its pool remained full and overflowing between these surges.<o:p></o:p> <o:p></o:p> Then Bijou began playing while Mastiff’s pool remained full, and Catfish joined in. Once again, Mastiff rose, but this time only to about six feet. Another pause, more quiet pool. Mastiff surged to the height of the cone. Again I called it out. I noted on the radio that everything on the platform is erupting, except Giant. In fact, Giant was basically sitting there, with only an occasional splash as accompaniment. <o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> This was a bit ridiculous. One of the great moments in gazing is that moment (I called it “the lock” in the case of Fan and Mortar) when you just KNOW that a large, rare geyser is about to erupt. In the case of Giant, the similar “lock” was Mastiff surging higher the cone. Well, I’d seen it about five times in the last day – four times in the last few minutes - plus a full-bore Mastiff eruption. <o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Yet again, Mastiff was to the height of the cone. I radioed: “Mastiff is to the height of the cone… again.” It sounded like Forrest Gump: “Ah went to the White House… again. I saw the president… again.”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Again Mastiff dropped, but again it remained full. And again it played to the height of the cone… but this time it was different. The column was thicker, sounded louder. I called, “This one looks good…” The surging grew in force quickly and was quickly far higher than the cone. Several jetting bursts were to 20 feet, and an eruption was on. <o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Again.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Mastiff’s back vent began surging, and within seconds both were considerably higher than the solo eruption the previous day. I made the pilgrimage to the main jugwalk to video the entire scene, lost my hat to the wind, and saw Giant have a heavy surge in its cone. I allowed myself to think that it was really going to erupt this time. The noise from the platform almost drowned out the shouts of the onlookers and I ran back to the platform (as many who were there ran AWAY) to see Bijou pounding and Mastiff almost roaring. Several huge bursts from Giant and it erupted.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> As others noted, it wasn’t an especially tall eruption. The wind might have had a lot to do with it, but it was plenty tall nonetheless. With the wind I could stand in the right front corner of the platform and have the whole water column appear like a giant sheet in front of me, pushed left-to-right by the wind. <o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> A few minutes in and Catfish was playing lustily also. We even noted that Mastiff continued for at least five minutes into Giant’s eruption, albeit to a height of 15 feet or so. Giant’s total duration was 85 minutes, but from about the 50 minute mark on its play was greatly diminished.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> What to make of this?<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Dave Goldberg suggested that we can create a rule: once Mastiff intervals decrease to 19 hours, Giant will erupt. Well, odder theories have been proffered with less data to support them. Or, if Feather and Feather’s satellite play for over 24 minutes an eruption will take place of Giant.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Clearly, the platform was in a huge Mastiff function. The energy was so far over to the Mastiff side I expected a new vent to break out to the north of the platform in the river. The water levels were extraordinarily high (both in the GIP and Mastiff, which is pretty much the same thing). Not only higher than I’ve ever seen them, but remaining in this high state for basically the entire weekend. <o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Big Question: How frequently is Giant erupting? At first, there were rumors that the signs hadn’t been replaced after the 4/13 eruption, so the reports of something between the 17th and 19th might simply being the result of seeing the signs still down. But Carolyn told me that she had indeed replaced the signs after the 4/13 eruption.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Not only that, she said, but the signs were also replaced on the 19th! <o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> What happened between the times on the 19th when the signs were returned to their position on the platform, and the morning of the 21st, when the signs were down on the sinter flat yet again, with Bijou/Mastiff/GIP performing so well?<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> This was astonishing to me, and perplexing. When we saw Giant on the 21st (Friday) it looked fully set to erupt. None of this “first hot period was only 5-6 days after the eruption.” It was more like “Ready to erupt 48 hours later.”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> A couple of possibilities: 1) Super-short intervals – eruption on the 13th, another on the 17th, another overnight 19th-20th, another on the 23rd, and very fast recoveries. 2) Practical joke – somebody knocking the signs down for kicks. Based on the fact that the park was closed except to employees, I don’t think this is likely. 3) Other activity on the platform rather than a Giant eruption. The problem with this is the fact that the signs that moved each time were the Giant sign and the nearby “Dangerous Ground” sign rather than the Mastiff, Catfish, or Bijou signs. If, let’s say, Mastiff had other solo eruptions it would make more sense that the Mastiff sign rather than those on the far right would be dislodged. However, the Giant and Dangerous Ground signs are precariously balanced to act as indicators of activity; the Mastiff sign is not in such a teetering location. Before this weekend the thought of a Mastiff solo dislodging the signs would have been extremely far-fetched. Of course, that was before this weekend.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Was I delighted to see Giant erupt? Absolutely. But it was truly strange – so strange that the build-up of excitement that I’ve felt in the past wasn’t quite there. I kept expecting Mastiff to stop. Again. And I don’t care how interesting it sounds, but watching Bijou, Feather, and Feather’s satellite erupt for 10 minutes one day (and no eruption) followed by nearly 25 minutes of similar activity the next day is not fun. It was bizarre, odd, bemusing, and worthy of much talk among the gazers, both then and now.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> For those watching Giant for the next few weeks I am both happy for you and pitying you.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Paul S.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> </div> </body> </html>