Day: August 13, 2022

After midnight there was high thin cloudiness with occasional thicker clouds. Most of the time the area was brightly lit, even when the moon went behind a cloud. Got out to the Grand area for a twenty-five minute wait for a Turban eruption, so we definitely had to wait through a Turban Delay. But we only had to wait through two Turban eruption intervals for the One Burst Grand Eruption.

About an hour later, Fan & Mortar had the first eruption in several months. Before going to Grand for the early morning eruption, I went down basin to check things out. There was definite wash zone beyond the walkway with runoff into the Backwater Spring area. The catch basins between Upper Mortar and the river were full, and all the vents were completely quiet. What was interesting is that there wasn't much evidence of flow down from Bottom Mortar to the river. I would have expected there to be pooled water there.

The One Burst Grand eruption came after a Turban Delay interval and three more Turban eruption intervals. It was followed shortly after by an eruption of Castle, the followup to last night's pathetic minor eruption.

The afternoon saw the forecast thundershowers finally appear. Went out to Grand after one ended, and was sweltering in my raincoat by the time I arrived because the sun came out and the wind died down. But then the rains started for a bit, and the coat went back on.

But wasn't a long wait. For whatever reason, after a day of long Grand intervals following the Rift eruption, Grand has reverted to shorter intervals.

The start of what turned out to be a unique eruption caught me a bit by surprise, as I didn't start the video recording until it had started. I try to capture the lead up to the eruption through the Grand start until Vent reaches full height. During the past week, the Vent start has been as late as four minutes after Grand's start, especially if Turban is also slow to start.

From my location, it was sometimes hard to see Vent due to the way the steam was swirling around. But as five minutes approached, I realized that I could see Vent clearly, and it wasn't erupting. A few years ago, I saw an eruption of Grand where, if I remember correctly, it took over seven minutes for Vent to start. Seven minutes became eight this time.

At 8m42s, Grand's first burst ended. It was strange to see just Turban erupting with the water in Grand's vent sloshing around, and no Vent eruption off to the side. The sloshing built into a tall second burst (my first of the trip), and when it ended, there was still no Vent activity. That's when I definitely saw water in Vent for the first time. Grand sloshed a bit like it might try for a third burst, then drained. The total Grand eruption duration was exactly ten minutes. It took Vent a minute after Grand's end before it finally started. It built up as normal, but unlike most post-Grand activity, it was tall and not steamy. (It occurs to me that if there had been a third burst, Turban would probably have quit, and Vent may not have started at all.) Waited to see what Grand might do, but after about fifteen minutes there was still no afterplay.

2022-Aug-12:16:05:05 G2C

2022-Aug-12 16:05:05	Grand B1	---	d=8m44s
2022-Aug-12 16:06:03	Turban		0m58s
2022-Aug-12 16:13:49	P1		8m44s	d=0m41s
2022-Aug-12 16:14:30	B2		9m25s	d=0m36s
2022-Aug-12 16:15:06	P2		10m01s
2022-Aug-12 16:15:10	Vent Ovfl	10m05s
2022-Aug-12 16:16:09	Vent		11m04s
Vent & Turban continue

				     ΣB=9m20s	ΣD=10m01s
(Turban 21m53s)
* * * * *
2022-Aug-12 15:22:53			d=4m05s 	
2022-Aug-12 15:43:12	Int: 20m19s	d=4m29s 	

Came in just in time to miss the showers and then heavy rain for the next few hours.

Back out well before midnight. It was mostly cloudy, with frequent lightning to the north. Waited about an hour with no decrease in the lightning, with occasional thunder from a strike that was probably in the Lower Basin. During the same period, the sky near the moon was starting to clear.

Turban started the proceedings, and the moon was still behind a cloud at that time, so we illuminated the start of the Grand eruption. But within minutes, before Vent started, the moon cleared the clouds and we were able to watch the One Burst Grand eruption backlit. Vent itself started at the expected time, but under the conditions, it appeared to be taller than usual.