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Observations for 2022 September 01


Once again a dawn check of Fan & Mortar showed no eruption overnight and Angle active. With no reports on Grand overnight, was prepared to wait a while. Grand's pool was full and overflowing, so I knew that it had been at least 4-1/2 hours since an eruption.

Spent the next 2-1/2 hours watching a series of nondescript Turban eruption intervals. At the two hour mark, West Triplet had a weak, eight minute long eruption.

The Grand eruption was nicely backlit, with all the initial activity easily visible. It was a surprise when the first burst lasted over 9-1/2 minutes. But the sunlight was glinting off of the water sloshing in the pool for nearly a minute before we got a strong, high second burst.

2022-Sep-01:08:31:46 G2Q

2022-Sep-01 08:31:46	Grand B1	---	d=9m40s
2022-Sep-01 08:31:49	Vent Ovfl	0m03s
2022-Sep-01 08:32:29	Turban		0m43s
2022-Sep-01 08:34:21	Vent		2m35s
2022-Sep-01 08:41:26	P1		9m40s	d=0m59s
2022-Sep-01 08:42:25	B2		10m39s	d=0m38s
2022-Sep-01 08:43:03	P2		11m17s
2022-Sep-01 08:43:40	V&T Quit	11m54s

				     ΣB=10m18s	ΣD=11m17s
(Turban 16m16s)
* * * * *
2022-Sep-01 06:30:33			d=3m09s 	
2022-Sep-01 06:48:13	Int: 17m40s	d=3m57s 	
2022-Sep-01 07:06:02	Int: 17m49s	d=3m26s 	
2022-Sep-01 07:23:17	Int: 17m15s	d=3m48s 	
2022-Sep-01 07:41:08	Int: 17m51s	d=3m26s 	
2022-Sep-01 07:58:22	Int: 17m14s	d=3m32s 	
2022-Sep-01 08:15:30	Int: 17m08s	d=3m28s 	

The last few days several people have reported what they thought was unusual activity-- stronger boiling or more numerous boiling points in Excelsior. I have dismissed these as wishful thinking from people who aren't familiar with the area. With the parking situation there, who is, anymore?

I listen in on the NPS radio chatter because it is informative, entertaining, and sometimes even has useful information. Coming back from Grand, I heard a Naturalist report that something unusual had happened at Excelsior. At first I dismissed it as another example of people goading each other into seeing things that aren't really there. But because I thought it was early enough (09:00), I could go out there and check it out myself. Also, if it had erupted, I wanted to see the area, and when it does erupt, I expect the NPS to close the area to everyone, even if the activity is not as much as the 1985 activity.

Turns out that 09:00 is too late, the parking lot was full. Worse, there were enough people waiting that I couldn't just leave, but had to wait for the way to clear. I was finally able to bail out and parked up along the road by the junction.

It was obvious by the time I got to the bridge across the river that nothing had happened. There was no evidence of any new runoff, or debris in the river, or dead plant-life (we were down-wind, too). Up at the top, there was no disruption of the shoreline of Excelsior, no wash zone above the rim. A total disappointment, but fortunately, only took an hour to drive out there and back, and didn't miss Fan & Mortar activity.

Had breakfast and got back out to Fan & Mortar around 11:00. For the next two hours, there was nothing more than the usual continuous Angle splashing and the quick cycling of the rest of Fan's vents. As I was getting ready to leave, that's when High and Gold Vents started looking really good. After ten minutes, they hadn't decreased in activity, so a radio call was made. That was all it really took to get them to suddenly die down. Which was timely, as that was when the call for the start of Beehive's Indicator came in on the radio.

Went out for the sunset Castle eruption, but it didn't cooperate. Left after rainbows were no longer possible. Turns out it was a minor eruption, again.

Got back out to Grand for the afternoon, and again had a series of Turban eruption intervals that didn't vary much. This time the One Burst Grand eruption started with Turban active for half a minute. It was followed by strong overflow from West Triplet that didn't have any splashes.

2022-Sep-01:15:41:46 T1C

2022-Sep-01 15:41:19	Turban		-0m27s
2022-Sep-01 15:41:23	Vent Ovfl	-0m23s
2022-Sep-01 15:41:46	Grand B1	---	d=10m23s
2022-Sep-01 15:44:21	Vent		2m35s
2022-Sep-01 15:52:09	P1		10m23s
Vent & Turban continue

				     	ΣD=10m23s
(Turban 17m56s)
* * * * *
2022-Sep-01 14:28:22			d=5m39s 	
2022-Sep-01 14:46:36	Int: 18m14s	d=4m35s 	
2022-Sep-01 15:05:31	Int: 18m55s	d=3m54s 	
2022-Sep-01 15:23:23	Int: 17m52s	d=3m45s 	
2022-Sep-01:22:15:14 D0/1C

2022-Sep-01 22:15:14	Grand B1	---	d=9m50s
2022-Sep-01 22:17:13	Vent		1m59s
2022-Sep-01 22:25:04	P1		9m50s
Vent & Turban continue

				     	ΣD=9m50s
(Turban 32m16s)
* * * * *
2022-Sep-01 21:42:58			d=4m40s