<html> <head> <style> .hmmessage P { margin:0px; padding:0px } body.hmmessage { FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY:Tahoma } </style> </head> <body class='hmmessage'> <style>.hmmessage P{margin:0px;padding:0px}body.hmmessage{FONT-SIZE: 10pt;FONT-FAMILY:Tahoma}</style> The following report describes the events leading up to the July 22 eruption of Fan and Mortar. <o:p> </o:p> Events seen prior to the eruption: <o:p> </o:p> July 20 <o:p> </o:p> ~1700 River pause, splashing in Main Vent, Bottom Vent eruptions Fan & Mortar were not watched overnight. <o:p> </o:p> July 21 <o:p> </o:p> ~1000 River pause, splashing in Main Vent, Bottom Vent eruptions ~2100 Brief Main Vent splashing, short Bottom Vent eruptions, no pause <o:p> </o:p> Fan & Mortar were not being watched between 2130 and 0500. <o:p> </o:p> July 22 <o:p> </o:p> ~0630 River pause, splashing in Main Vent, Bottom Vent eruptions ~1200 River pause, huffing in Main Vent but no splashing, no Bottom Vent ~1500 Splashing in Main Vent, Bottom Vent eruptions, no pause ~1800 Splashing in Main Vent, Bottom Vent eruptions, no pause <o:p> </o:p> After the evening events, a huge storm with lightning and heavy rain blew through and drove everyone inside.  But before darkness set in, the clouds had moved off, and conditions were good enough that I decided to spend a few hours at F&M before heading in for the night.  Upon my arrival, I heard Angle splashing, but after a while things grew quiet and then I heard a light roar from Main Vent. But when I pulled out my maglite to have a look, the batteries went dead almost immediately, so I had to rely on my head lamp to follow the rest of the events, so some of them are a bit sketchy.  Here’s what happened: <o:p> </o:p> ~2230 Main Vent light roars 2235 River on, followed within a minute or two by Gold ~2248 River and Gold off, for what I’m pretty certain was a Gold pause ~2250 Main Vent began roaring 2258 Bottom Vent (d=24m, that was all one eruption with no breaks) 2300 Main Vent continued to make sounds like it was having splashes 2323 Bottom Vent, this time it started and stopped several times 2330 River on, Gold pause lasted approximately 42 minutes 2331 Gold on 2333 Angle on 2339 Water levels were better than they’d been for any other cycle in the interval 2343 High Vent in lock, joined about a minute later by Gold 2345 FAN AND MORTAR <o:p> </o:p> Fortunately, the Strassers came down to F&M with flashlights so the viewing for the eruption was pretty good.  It was a strong eruption overall, though Mortar dominated, with an angled jet from Lower Mortar landing on the benches at the top of the embankment.  Once again, Mortar did not ever completely stop during the eruption. <o:p> </o:p> Prior to this eruption, it had seemed that extended activity by Bottom Vent was not a good thing, because the event cycles leading to prior eruptions had not included long Bottom Vent eruptions.  This time, Bottom Vent lasted a full 24 minutes before pausing and then continued erupting after that, but Fan & Mortar still erupted.  The other notable thing about the event cycle was that it was only 15 minutes from the start of River to the start of the eruption.  For those wondering how long they have after River starts, it’s been getting shorter—19 minutes for the July 18 eruption and 15 minutes on July 22, as opposed to 32 minutes on July 14. <o:p> </o:p> Just as a reminder to everyone, Fan & Mortar’s eruptions since the spring slowdown have been: <o:p> </o:p> June 24 @ 0646ie, I>57d June 28 @ 0714, I~4d00h28m July 2 @ 1433, I=4d07h19m July 8 @ 0710, I=5d16h37m July 11 @ 0901ie, I~3d01h51m July 14 @ 1951, I~3d10h50m July 18 @ 0531, I=3d09h40m July 22 @ 2345, I=4d18h14m --Tara Cross fanandmortar@hotmail.com <o:p> </o:p> <o:p> </o:p> <hr />Stay in touch when you're away with Windows Live Messenger. <a href='http://www.windowslive.com/messenger/overview.html?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_messenger2_072008' target='_new'>IM anytime you're online.</a></body> </html>