Observations for 29 July 2012



Grand Plate #1


Grand Plate  #2


Grand's Plate, before and after eruption

So it looks like the plate that went into Grand last night didn't make it very far out. And that two subsequent eruptions have not been enough to dislodge it. The eruption itself was a typical one-burst in dead calm, so quite pretty, but Grand made no attempt to even refill after that burst ended.

In the middle of the afternoon there was a minor event down at Fan & Mortar, but nothing much came of it. Of course I heard the radio call after I had returned to my cabin from taking a well-needed shower.

West Triplet was splashing away as I tied my bike up at Castle for the late afternoon Grand. Since it had been a while since the last known Rift eruption, wasn't surprised when it started. But what was a surprise was that Grand stayed up and high, and started having waves. It wasn't quite long enough to be considered a delay, but came close.

Before the eruption, the plate did get pushed around a bit by the wind, but it stayed in the general area it had been in all day. It seems that maybe the water it was in was keeping it in place, because after the Grand eruption, a gust of wind blew it all the way across to the Sputnik area. Further gusts moved it closed to Rift. I was kinda looking forward to it going downstream, too.

There wasn't much remarkable about the fourth Grand eruption of the day, other than it was the third Grand eruption between consecutive Beehive eruptions. I'm waiting for the day we get two Grands between a pair of Riverside eruptions.

The eruption itself was nicely lit by the moon, with a hint of moonbows when I looked specifically for them. WIth the dead calm night, the second burst was nicely spectacular.