<html> <head> <style> .hmmessage P { margin:0px; padding:0px } body.hmmessage { FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY:Tahoma } </style> </head> <body class='hmmessage'> > Date: Sun, 20 Jul 2008 09:58:59 -0600 > From: pollypanos@earthlink.net > To: geysers@lists.wallawalla.edu > Subject: Re: [Geysers] Fan & Mortar 7-18 @ 0531 > > > This event cycle had a double River Vent pause. I didn't write down the times (Kitt Barger did), but the cycle was not a very long one. It was dark for much of it. Kitt and I heard roaring in Main Vent several times, but we only heard one large splash. There was little from Bottom Vent during this cycle. It began to get light before River, High & Gold came on, and the strength and steadiness of those vents were really our first clues that this event cycle was special. (We had some nice event cycles the day before.) High went into lock before the eruption. Fan was steamy and Mortar put on quite a show! The 5 of us who were there got a bit wet and had a great time! > > Polly Panos > This is a report on the events at Fan & Mortar prior to the July 18 eruption. <o:p> </o:p> Gazers began to monitor Fan & Mortar on the morning of July 17.  Events on the 17th were as follows: <o:p> </o:p> ~1000 <st1:place w:st="on">Main</st1:place> Vent splashing and Bottom Vent eruptions <o:p> </o:p> ~1300 <st1:place w:st="on">Main</st1:place> Vent splashing and Bottom Vent eruptions <o:p> </o:p> ~1700 <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Double</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">River</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> pause, Main Vent splashing, Bottom Vent eruptions <o:p> </o:p> ~2200 <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Double</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">River</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> pause, Main Vent splashing <o:p> </o:p> Given that events were occurring every 3-5 hours, Kitt was expecting an event cycle around 0200.  I decided to get up with the sun at 0430, but as I was pulling in to the Ham store parking lot, Kitt called with a report from Fan & Mortar.  Events progressed as follows: <o:p> </o:p> 0437 River on 0448 River off, River pause 0455 River on 0458 Large Main Vent splash 0509 River off, double River pause 0512 River on 0513 Gold on 0516 Angle on 0521 High and Gold vents steady 0526 High Vent in lock, Gold and Angle were strong but did not lock 0529 Upper Mortar splash 0531 East Vent, followed about 5 seconds later by everything else <o:p> </o:p> The events seen on the 17th got progressively better over the course of the day, but the water levels in the minor vents were never very impressive.  The events on the 18th were not very impressive; the pauses lasted only 7 and 3 minutes respectively and there was no activity from Bottom Vent.  However, when the minor vents started, the water levels were excellent and after 9 minutes High Vent was erupting steadily.  High then built into lock, but while Gold and Angle were strong, they never quite joined in.  Upper Mortar had a splash inside its cone 17 minutes after the start of River.  Then about 90 seconds later, there was a splash in Main Vent, followed by the start of the eruption with East Vent erupting by itself for several seconds before everything else lifted into the air.  There was a light breeze blowing the steam away from the boardwalk for the first few minutes of the eruption, so viewing was quite good considering that the lighting was still somewhat gray.  Once again, Upper Mortar never completely stopped erupting, though it did have several lulls in activity.  We enjoyed being able to hear the roar of Main Vent in the quiet of the morning, and it put several surges nearly across the gravel path without the aid of the wind. <o:p> </o:p> Big thanks to Kitt Barger and Polly Panos for being at Fan & Mortar to call events! --Tara Cross fanandmortar@hotmail.com <o:p> </o:p> <o:p> </o:p> <hr />Keep your kids safer online with Windows Live Family Safety. <a href='http://www.windowslive.com/family_safety/overview.html?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_family_safety_072008' target='_new'>Help protect your kids.</a></body> </html>