Observations for 2018 July 31


Another morning arriving at the Giant platform to find that nothing had happened there overnight. After an hour's worth of regular short Bijou pauses, we got the expected hot period. This was another medium of the restart variety. Medium because while most of the vents were active, Giant just didn't seem to show any evidence that it could erupt. There wasn't much surging, and what there was came from down deep. There was even some strong surges that were left to right, pouring out water and meaning nothing.

Another feature of this hot period was that it wasn't related to the start or end of Grotto, but came an hour and a quarter before Grotto started.

Four hours later, from Grand I saw a long Bijou pause, which it turns out did have some Southwest Vent activity. After that, the Bijou again had a series of short pauses and slowdowns until a hot period started at the same time that Rocket began. It too was "medium".

WIth this hot period, it appeared that Giant was shifting modes. Instead of a strong one followed 6 hours later by a weak Feather-only and then 10 or so hours later by another strong, we were starting to get these medium ones about 6-1/2 to 8-1/2 hours apart.