Observations for 2023 August 14


In the morning there wasn't a Turban Delay Interval, just a series of non-descript Turban eruptions which finally led up to a One Burst Grand eruption. It seems like the start of the Grand window has shifted back about 45 minutes.

2023-Aug-14:09:24:41 G1Q

09:24:41	Grand B1	---	d=10m51s
09:25:42	Turban		1m01s
09:26:54	Vent Ovfl	2m13s
09:28:34	Vent		3m53s
09:35:32	P1		10m51s
09:36:24	V&T Quit	11m43s

				     	ΣD=10m51s
	* * * * *
08:20:02			d=4m10s 	
08:41:53	Int: 21m51s	d=4m32s 	
09:03:16	Int: 21m23s	d=4m32s 	
		      Grand: 21m25s

One the way back, saw something new and different. From Sawmill, we saw an ATV driving south toward Castle. The driver stopped there, got out and looked around for a while. Tried to get close enough to take some pictures, but he drove off before I could get close. I did see him drive up to the front of the Inn. I joked that it was probably someone claiming to use it because of a disability. The NPS was informed of this, and I heard that the Law Enforcement types wanted to find him, because they thought he might try driving down the Fountain Freight Road or Firehole Lake Drive. They did find an RV in the East Lot that had an empty trailer with the ramps down.

Found out late I wasn't far off. The person appeared at the Visitor Center to complain about disability access, and was told that he got to talk to Law Enforcement about how a licensed vehicle is not a mobility device.

Unrelated, but also from the radio-- doing 64 in the 25 zone at the West Entrance station will get you a mandatory visit to the magistrate in Mammoth.

Had time to kill, so went down to Fan & Mortar for a few hours. Everything was dry, and nothing happened for the first half hour I was there. Then there was the usual progression over the next half hour of vents starting and stopping. Twenty minutes after River had quit it was back on and another cycle started. This time the activity lasted about 20 minutes. After about ten minutes of no activity, I drifted away to catch Daisy.

The Daisy eruption was pretty much normal, with the usual duration of 3m20s.

In the afternoon at Grand, we got a short Turban Delay Interval of only 28 minutes. It was three Turban Intervals later that Grand erupted. The first burst lasted less than nine minutes, while the second was two seconds under the limit to be considered a Long Second. Even then, Grand toyed with us by having the crater start to refill before draining and Turban and Vent quitting.

2023-Aug-14:16:31:16 D3/G2Q

16:31:16	Grand B1	---	d=8m56s
16:31:53	Vent Ovfl	0m37s
16:32:05	Turban		0m49s
16:34:34	Vent		3m18s
16:40:12	P1		8m56s	d=0m42s
16:40:54	B2		9m38s	d=1m13s
16:42:07	P2		10m51s
16:43:06	V&T Quit	11m50s
16:51:53	V&T Restart	20m37s

				     ΣB=10m09s	ΣD=10m51s
	* * * * *
15:07:20			d=4m32s 	
15:35:15	Int: 27m55s	d=4m29s  D0	
15:52:02	Int: 16m47s	d=5m00s  D1	
16:11:40	Int: 19m38s	d=4m16s  D2	
		      Grand: 19m36s

Went out near sunset to catch Castle, expecting a minor since there was a major eruption after midnight. Instead we got a consecutive major eruption.

After dark we got out to Grand just in time to catch the Turban which started the Delay Interval. The overflow was heavy around the 20 minute mark, then decreased to almost nothing by 25. Then it picked up. By 28 minutes the overflow was heavy again. Just as Turban started, it sounded like there was a boil over Grand, and the One Burst Eruption started. It lasted almost 11 minutes.

2023-Aug-14:22:50:57 D0/T1Q

22:50:54	Turban		-0m03s
22:50:57	Grand B1	---	d=10m56s
22:53:27	Vent		2m30s
23:01:53	P1		10m56s
23:02:47	V&T Quit	11m50s

				     	ΣD=10m56s
	* * * * *
22:17:08			d=4m46s 	
		     Turban: 33m46s