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Observations for 2022 August 24


With Grand erupting just before dawn, there wasn't much going on. Got out to Grand about 5-1/2 hours since the previous eruption, and was it appeared that a Turban Delay interval was in progress. About ten minutes later, still well before six hours, Grand had a series of strong boops, several about 1/2 meter high.

Fortunately, it took only three Turban eruption intervals for the One Burst Grand eruption. Toward the end of the eruption, West Triplet overflowed heavily, and there was some minor splashing in Sput D.

So today someone reports multiple eruptions and other activity in "Sputnik" Geyser right after this eruption. The problem is that in the past people, especially those who haven't reported much in previous years, have mis-reported Sput D/Delta as Sputnik, so the identification of the feature being reported today could be wrong again. From the descriptions, the activity is more likely to be Sput D. (That one of the eruptions is marked as a webcam entry doesn't help the reliability.)

The problem is that Sputnik is showing signs of potential activity. During eruptions of Sput D, I've seen the area of Sputnik steaming or behaving as a frying pan, and there is a depression forming where the Sputnik frying pan is. So these reports are only going to get more confusing.

The call for Beehive's indicator came almost immediately after this eruption, so it was time to walk over to Geyser Hill. The spray during the Grand eruption made the decision as to where to wait easy, as the wind was not shifting. Because the spray and landing zone was to the north, the Indicator was not being flooded. That meant that it was taller that usual, and lasted a bit longer (just under three minutes.) Beehive itself had a bit of a short duration.

In the evening Belgian Pool and Crystal Spring were both at their high level, with Belgian just a centimeter or so below the rim, while Crystal had overflowed enough to shut down Slurp. At Grand, only had to wait for two Turban eruption intervals before the One Burst Grand Eruption that started with a sustained boop just before Grand started. Sput D appears to not have recovered fully. It was having eruptions, but the interval was well over half an hour.