Did a quick check of north Upper Basin Features in the morning. Artemisia was full and overflowing, and that was the extent of what I knew about it. East Sentinel seemed to be wetter around the main area of activity along the north rim. Fan & Mortar was unchanged, although it seemed like the area just below Bottom Vent was wet.
From that, it was on to Grand. The morning had been breezy, but by now, as noon approached, it was getting windy. Over the next five hours, it got windier. Also during that time Turban was regularly erupting about every 17 to 19 minutes, with duration lengths dropping from just under four minutes to just under three. Then there was a Turban Delay interval, followed by the second West Triplet eruption of the wait. No Rift eruption, and now the Turban intervals were shorter, less than 17 minutes and durations about 2-1/2 minutes.
Finally, after a 14-1/2 minute Turban interval Grand did erupt. The first burst was surprisingly tall considering the strong, gusty wind. At a couple of times during the eruption, Grand slowed down such that it appeared to be stopping, only to come back strong. It was as if we almost had another three burst eruption. The interval was the longest of the season so far, 11h37m.
During the first few hours of that wait, Sawmill was erupting. Toward the end of Sawmill's eruption, Tardy was also having a tall and steamy eruption, and from the benches at Grand, it almost looked like Uncertain. After Sawmill finally quit, there was a short eruption (perhaps five minutes long) about fifteen minutes later.
Well after dark I went out to Grand on the possibility of there being a short interval. Instead, I saw Rift well into an eruption (West Triplet was dry). Decided it would probably be well after midnight before Grand finally erupted, so I left.
A good day to do something other than watch One Burst Grand Eruptions. Since the parking was surprisingly easy, stopped into Norris to watch New Crater/Steamboat for half an hour. Nothing to get excited about that I could see.
Did go out after sunset. Looked like West Triplet had finished erupting recently, which could mean Grand would wait the two hours for the next West Triplet eruption. Got the expected early Turban delay interval, but Turban was strong and sustained. It was just light enough to see Grand booping well after the two minute mark, so the start of Grand's eruption wasn't a surprise.
The first burst lasted 7-3/4 minutes, so not surprised that there was a second burst. The surprise was that the second burst lasted less than a minute, and at that point the whole eruption was just over nine minutes long. The third burst made sure that Vent & Turban would quit, and fairly quickly. West Triplet did nothing during or after Grand's eruption.
After a string of long intervals, Grand had some shorter ones. The first was during the foggy dawn, and I was just getting ready to head out when it started. The next was midday.
Spent an hour down at Fan & Mortar because there wasn't much else to do. If there is any cycling, it's so short as to be wishful thinking by the observer. Also checked out Daisy, which had an interval of 110 minutes.
So of course the next Grand interval was longer. No Turban delay intervals while I waited, just a nearly eight hour Grand interval that seemed to be waiting for West Triplet to get ready. Eight Turban eruption intervals all about 18 minutes long with a 3-1/2m duration eruption. The Turban eruption after sunset, Grand erupted followed almost immediately by West Triplet.
It also seemed to be "take your dog through the basin" day. I counted at least five around Castle and Grand during the day.
The sky was mostly clear when we went out at 02:00, but as the wait progressed, the moon slowly disappeared. West Triplet was erupting as we arrived at Grand, and when West Triplet ended without Grand eruption, knew that there was going to be a wait. During the next three hours, we saw pretty much everything except Grand-- Castle and a couple of Daisy eruptions and even a nice Oblong.
Grand finally erupted as the sky was starting to lighten up and the moon almost invisible behind the clouds. We lit up the eruption, but after the first couple of minutes, the lack of wind meant that not much could be seen of the One Burst Eruption. West Triplet started during that eruption, but we didn't stick around to see if Rift followed.
Rift waited for the next West Triplet before erupting. The Rift eruption lasted almost three hours, and we ended up with an interval almost as long as yesterday's. There were no delays, just a long series of short Turban eruptions. Once again, we got a One Burst Grand Eruption.
Beehive's Indicator was called just before Grand's eruption, and the two of them erupted at the same time. Due to the boardwalk between Sawmill and Lion being blocked by a bison closure, several people who wanted to be on Geyser Hill were forced to see Grand instead.
Before the next Grand we finally got a real thunderstorm, which started with hail. It was late enough in the day that everything stayed wet after sunset. Went out to Grand at around the 6-1/2 hour mark, and waited a little over an hour for a steamy, foggy One Burst Grand eruption that took place just before moonrise.
It's beginning to appear that unless Grand erupts on a Turban Delay interval around the 6-1/2 hour mark, it will not erupt until after eight hours or so. When there is a Turban Delay interval, the days of a quick two or three Turban interval wait are also long gone.
Woke up to report of West Triplet and Grand with an interval over seven hours. The expected eruption of Rift didn't happen, and neither was there a Turban delay interval. Five Turban eruption intervals we did get a delay, but fortunately Grand did erupt.
There was a relatively short first burst under nine minutes long, but was did get a second burst. one that lasted two and a quarter minutes.
Midday there was a Beehive eruption with an indicator long enough to get me from the cabin to near Plume.. Decided to wait there based on the wind. Of course it shifted and I needed the umbrella.
Came on out to Grand on a warm, sunny afternoon. Half hour later, right after an eruption of Oblong, we got a Turban delay interval that included a small Grand boop about five minutes before the pool dropped.
Four Turban eruption intervals later, we got a West Triplet eruption. but it took a total of eleven Turban intervals before we got an attempt at erupting by Grand. During that time it clouded up, got quite windy, and there were even some sprinkles. Like the night before, there was a late fill by Grand. Unlike the night before, Grand didn't erupt.
Finally , two Turban eruption intervals later, Grand finally had the One Burst Eruption. It lasted almost twelve minutes, and the final five minutes or so consisted of Big Sawmill.
After last night's fiasco, decided to not try too hard for a short interval. Woke up to a report of West Triplet in eruption at about seven hours into Grand's interval. So went on out, and finally rewarded with a short wait. The sun was high enough that the top of the water column of the One Burst Eruption was backlit.
After that, decided a trip to Norris made sense. The activity at New Crater/Steamboat was uninspiring, but did spend some time in Porcelain and saw eruptions of Constant and Whirligig.
After a return trip where it took 45 minutes to get from north of Fountain Paint Pots back to the cabin, went out to Grand in time for the Turban Delay Eruption. Shortly after, West Triplet started, and at the half-hour mark, Rift joined in. By then, we'd had a thunderstorm scare, but that had passed by with only a few drops. So right after Rift we got another One Burst Grand Eruption.
Back at the cabin, I headed over to the indoor plumbing. As I always do, I look over the thermal area across the river, and saw a black bear there. Went back to the cabin, got my camera and found that it had moved across the river and was just below the housing cabins along the river. After a few minutes, it wandered off upriver. Nearby, next to the river, was also a bison engaged in some digestive relief.
The moon had just risen as I went out for the next Grand. It was hidden behind a bank of clouds, but as it got higher, the clouds disappeared. There was heavy overflow from Grand when I arrived, and for the next Turban eruption Grand had no overflow, so I might have just missed a Turban Delay interval. In any case, it was only two more Turban eruption intervals later that Grand started to overflow heavily at the 25 minute point. The moon was still low, but positioned such that it was directly behind Grand's vent if one was standing at the northernmost bench. The start was tall, but quickly the slight breeze hid the water column.
It was an eleven minute long One Burst Grand eruption that never showed any signs of wanting to stop. The moonlight was too low for any moonbows, too.
Woke up about 6-1/2 hours after the previous Grand eruption to see a report that Turban had erupted about a half hour earlier. Made the assumption that this meant that Turban was in the middle of a Delay interval. Had earlier decided that it made sense to skip a short interval. But with the delay , it mean that we had plenty of time to get out to Grand and see the eruption.
Turned out that could've slept in another hour or more, because it took nine Turban eruption intervals before Grand finally erupted. Another One Burst Grand that lasted just under ten minutes.
Did get a bonus, as Castle started while untying the bikes. The first few minutes of the eruption were filled with pauses, then around the six minute mark the play became continuous, and we got a nice major eruption.
The next Grand interval did not have a Turban delay that anyone observed. But it still took almost two hours of Turban eruptions that never looked promising. Then we got an early fill and a One Burst Grand eruption that lasted 8m16s. After the burst, the pool held water for maybe ten or fifteen seconds, then drained. At least Vent & Turban made no attempt to slow down and stop.
Next it was over to Geyser Hill to see what Beehive might do. Waited about 45 minutes, and there were a few nice splashes from Beehive, but nothing much to get excited about. Then there was a large surge, maybe 5 meters high, followed immediately by another surge that lifted into a full eruption. The water column for the first 20 seconds or so appeared to be shorter than most starts I've seen, then it climbed up to full height.
The Indicator joined in briefly during the middle of the eruption, and the duration was longer than normal, perhaps because of the less powerful start.
During the wait, Lion had made several weak surges. It was about time for another series to start, so headed in that direction. Got to Lion just as the initial eruption of the series started, and had to make sure to not be downwind.
During the eruption, I saw something which may or may not be normal. In Big Cub, I caught on video a blip of water, maybe a few cm high. It was not any higher than the back rim of the vent. A review of the video shows that I wasn't imagining things, but it lasted only a few frames.
Big Cub blip
Saw the next One Burst Grand as I was passing the Inn on my bike. Watched the rest of the One Burst eruption from Castle.
After the quick wait last night, it was disappointing that in the morning Grand had a ten Turban interval delay. Got out at sunrise and was three hours later when Grand finally erupted. Several of the Turban eruptions were not preceded by any overflow from Grand.
The pool finally filled nicely, with Vent overflowing before Grand initiated the eruption, with Turban following a second later. The burst duration of 9m20s was short enough for a One Burst Grand, but after about 80 seconds, with lots of sloshing about at the end, we got a second burst. That burst lasted two minutes.
I've noticed that when Vent & Turban quit at the end of an eruption, as in this case, the pause before the restart is fairly short. And the activity quickly become quite vigorous. In this case, it took quite a bit of heavy steam before water started jetting in Turban.
Six hours later, I was back out at Grand. This was the short interval that was expected in the morning. Grand's pool was filling nicely, and completely full, but waves or other variations. Then suddenly, we got a 10 meter boop to start the eruption. Was the most sudden start that I've seen in a while. It then took Turban a minute to start, and Vent almost four minutes before it joined in. This One Burst Grand eruption, at least, lasted about 10m20s.
There was still a bit of glow in the sky when we headed out again. After a couple of Turban eruptions, we got a delay interval. It was interesting in that the overflow didn't start to really pick up until about 22 minutes after the previous Turban start.
Three Turban intervals later we got another interesting delay interval. The overflow could be heard at around the fifteen minute mark, but then decreased a few minutes later. But Turban did not erupt, and around the 23 minute mark, the overflow picked up again. When Turban started at 33 minutes, it started out strong, but Grand didn't follow through. It finally started 68 seconds later.
The burst lasted only 8-1/2 minutes. So it was a relief to get a second strong burst, nicely lit by the moon. After that, Vent & Turban tried to quit, but over the course of the next few minutes, the activity picked back up and by then, Vent was roaring away.
Got out to Grand just before midnight. Riding past the lift station on the bikes we could feel the temperature suddenly drop. Daisy was erupting as we started the walk down from Castle. Over in the Sawmill Group, it appeared that nothing much had appened since the evening. Based on the twenty minute wait we had before Turban finally erupted, and the copious overflow in the middle of the interval, we got there just in time for the Turban delay interval.
Sawmill had a brief two minute eruption during our wait, but for the next five Turban intervals, the durations of Turban eruption slows decreased from five minutes to well under four. Daisy had an interval well under two hours, and then Grand finally erupted. A long one burst eruption at the last possible time. If it had waited one more Turvan interval, the moon would have set.
Slept in a little bit longer on the assumption that the next interval wouldn't be excessively short. Which turned out to be the case. Grand took its time after a Turban Delay interval that happened while we were still back in the cabin. The eruption had a nice build up to a Turban start, but it was another One Burst Grand. Afterwards, West Triplet had a strong overflow with a couple of splashes to qualify as an eruption.
Check on Fan & Mortar, where Angle mode continues. Went on to East Sentinel for a quick check. Arrived to see some activity along the north rim, along with heavy overflow. That activity increased for a while to include superheated boilin over the near part of the pool and splashing along the entire rim. Then the activity died down and the overflow stopped for a couple of minutes. Then activity resumed as before, with some minor cycling in the amount of boiling. Only spent about 15 minutes there.
Of course the call for Beehive's Indicator came over the radio just as we'd finished the preparation of lunch and started to eat. Quite windy, but still a nice tall eruption under excellent conditions. Afterwards there was a preplay from Old Faithful that lasted for at least 30 seconds and was huge. It took it almost a half hour to recover from that. In the cabin we heard the cheering when it finally erupted.
The wait for the next One Burst Grand eruption was only an hour this time. As earlier, it started with Turban. One thing I noticed is that the start of Vent still took over three minutes from the Grand start, when it should have been much shorter. Castle started shortly after Grand, and it was a major eruption.
It was fairly windy by now, but decided to check out he Daisy Group. As it turned out, the Daisy interval was still only two hours. The duration was short at 3m16s. After the eruption Splendid did show some nice boiling from both Side Boiler and the Main Vent, but there is no evidence of any increase in discharge from the pool.
Went out to Grand just before midnight with the expectation of another long wait. Stopped at Belgian Pool when I noticed that the water level was pushing into the side lobe. That's when I heard Turban erupting, and within seconds, so was Grand.
It was nicely lit by the moon, and there were hints of moonbows, but the eruption lasted, at most, 8m40s, which was quite disappointing. But almost immediately after we figured out that the eruption was over, I noticed the steam building up down basin. Just after midnight, and Oblong had just started. So we headed down that way to get a closer look. I got as far as Chromatic, but by then the eruption was being illuminated.
(While we were at Oblong, and it was lit up, someone drove down basin and then turned around and drove back. I assume it was NPS looking for someone or something else, because they didn't stop.)
Went out to Grand early. It was a nice clear, and relatively warm morning, and after yesterday's short interval, seemed like a worthwhile place to be. Arrive during a Turban delay eruption, so at least that was out of the way. I prefer the early delays. Since it occurs when Grand is highly unlikely to actually erupt, it doesn't seem to do any sort of reset on the system the way the later delays behave.
And that was pretty much the case here. The next Turban, as expected, was quick with no Grand overflow. The next few Turban eruptions were short intervals, and Grand finally erupted on D4. Turban started strongly, and the waves building up to a huge boil. No chance of any boops. The eruption was a typical short one burst, with Vent & Turban continuing.
West Triplet started shortly after. Those who have been here a while were surpised with the eruption did not stop after a few minutes. Instead, we got what I consider the normal sequence of activity-- Percolator rising and starting, and at about the half hour mark, Rift beginning to erupt. West Triplet lasted about 45 minutes.
After a few hours, still hadn't heard that Rift had quit, which was disappointing. So decided to go on out and wait for the end and for Grand's first overflow. Rift had just quit as I was tying down my bike over at Castle, for a duration of three hours. The first overflow was at 4h50m, which seemed to be a bit longer, but not excessive. Expected the eruption of Rift to have had an effect, and perhaps the effect on the rest of the interval would be minimal.
With a little time to kill, I went over to Giant, where I saw a platform that looked like it did in the early 1980s. The only water visible was some damp areas around Mastiff towards Giant.
Today I noticed for the first time that Solstice is actually visible from the benches at Grand. I do not remember seeing the obvious steam and spray in previous years, which leads me to believe that Solistice has become stronger and taller, or that maybe a blocking tree has fallen.
Back at Grand it was around the seven hour mark, we got a Turban Delay interval. After six more undistiguished Turban eruption intervals, we finally got good overflow from Grand. Grand started immediately after Turban. The eruption lasted over eleven minutes, and the last minute consisted mostly of large boils and weak jetting.
Sawmill had been erupting most of the day, with a perhaps one hour pause while we waiting for Grand's first overflow. So wasn't surprised to see that the Sawill Group was in a deep drain. What was surprising was how far down Belgian Pool and Crystal Springs were. Both were down 20 to 25cm from their respective rims. Oval Spring did not have any visible water, other than an ocassional splash coming from the northern vent.
Went out to Grand with the expectation of having to wait until dark for the eruption. The pack had nighttime gear, including a light, and dinner. As it turned out, saw Grand start while standing at Sawmill. It was a nice tall start, and noisy. Two bursts but the total duration was under 10 minutes.
Since it was still going to be daylight for over an hour, went down to Fan & Mortar to kill some time. Definitely in a garbage mode, as within a minute or two of River starting, Gold and High were getting continuously with some power. Then it all died down.
We were supposed to be in Rotorua, New Zealand this week, but the gov't there doesn't want people visiting. So as an alternative, we spent two weeks on the Island of Hawaii. The second week was spent in and around Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
The Halemaumau crater in the Kilauea caldera has been showing periodic activity the last few months. Every week or so, the activity dies down for about a day, leading to the pools crusting over because there isn't any new lava being fed into them. There was a pause the day before we were scheduled to arrive, which meant we had a good chance of seeing lots of activity.
It's about 0.7 miles along the old Crater Rim Road to the only legal overlook where one can see the lava from the eruption. The lookout itself is a new roped off area well off the road, and about a mile from the activity in the Halemaumau crater. Since it's a road most of the way, it's an easy hike.
We made a total of six trips out there. The first one was in the middle of the morning, to scout out the location and to determine what and when we should go next. The road itself is still open for a way beyond the turn to the overlook. It takes one past Keanakakoi crater to a couple of old caldera overlooks, but the lava can't be seen them. The road itself is closed due to a wide collapse fissure. So there was no reason to go there again.
We didn't visit the northern rim until several days later, but there too the overlooks didn't have a view of the lava.
We got to the overlook while it was overcast, and over the next hour it cleared, and as it brightened, the activity became harder to see. That first day the view was of a couple of lava pools being fed by a larger, slightly higher vent. There were areas of red visible where the lava flowed most quickly. The first was where there was a drop from the vent to the first pool, the second being the constriction where the second pool was fed. There was also incandescence visible along some of the shoreline. During our hour out there, we could see the crust over the pools crack, and occasionally there would be fountaining from them.
To the left (south) of the vent area were two or three spatter cones, where occasional spurts of red could be seen. I was never able to get a good feel for heights of the activity or the cones, since I had no references and the distance was so great.
To the right (east) was another large area which might have been another lava pool, but other than some steam and smoke rising from a few areas, especially along the shoreline, we didn't see any activity.
Decided our next visit was going to be that night. The moon was at first quarter, so it was easy to walk the road without any lights, letting our eyes adapt. It was a lot like going out at night to see geysers, but much warmer, and no need to worry about bison or bears lurking in the trees. Halfways to the overlook we could see the red glow as the forest turned to open lava fields.
We arrived shortly before midnight, and there were still maybe a dozen people still there. But the flow was mostly in the opposite direction, and by 00:30 we had the place to ourselves. The moon was at first quarter, and set around shortly afterwards.
The activity may have been the same as during the daylight visit, but it was much more impressive. We could easily see the jetting from the spatter cones. The pools themselves were various shades of red, and there were all sorts of red spots on the larger lava lake to the right.
We also saw a lot of lights were there should be any lights, west and southwest of us well up on the crater rim. Probably various groups wandering along the closed road from the other end.
We decided that our next visit would be at dawn a day later. We arrived around 05:00, which is about an hour before twilight and sunrise was at 06:30 (Note-- unlike Yellowstone, twilight at that latitude is short, and sunrise and sunset don't vary much during the year. It's pretty much always 12 hour of daylight and 12 of night.) We arrived with no one there, but people started wandering in almost immediately. As it got light, we got people showing up more interested in getting their own pictures taken than in seeing the lava. At one point we had a who group of "glamor girls" well downslope of the rope line striking various poses and ignoring what was going on behind them.
As it got light, I noticed that not only can you see the summit of Mauna Kea, but a number of the buildings housing telescopes are easily visible without even binoculars. Mauna Loa at night looks like a long, low cloudbank, and both mountains were cloud covered during our previous daytime visit.
The next night time trip was about an hour later, well after midnight. Instead of being alone, this time there were a number of people there. It being Saturday night probably had something to do with the numbers. Either an organized tour, or several large families all appeared shortly after we arrived. They were noisy and despite being there for over half an hour, spent most of their time taking pictures of themselves (with flash) instead of viewing the activity. They were even taking group photos with nothing in the background. There was also one woman who was telling people how to get to the overlooks in the closed area, who kept yammering away like a certain geyser gazer we all know, until another women there said that going out there would be "stupid."
But finally, they all left, it got quiet again. The volcanic activity was pretty much like the other views in the dark. One thing I did notice is that as the moon got lower, it became easier to see the ledges and cliffs down in the crater.
Another advantage to being alone is that one can actually hear the activity. There are a number of fumaroles that are roaring in the distance, and the occasional huffing sounds, some louder than others. All that gets hidden by the noise, not just of people talking, but of people walking on the gravel. It also helps that much of the nights were calm (or at least calmer) with less wind noise. It was hard to correlate the whooshing sounds with activity down in the crater, because we were so far away. I never did figure out exactly what was making it, but I believe it was from the spatter cones acting as vents.
Went out another time at even later so as to avoid people. The final night there was someone leaving just as we arrived, leaving us alone. This time the activity was perhaps the best yet. We could see the lava cascade into the first pool. The spatter cones were frequently and vigorously active. Not much fountaining from within the pools themselves, maybe because there wasn't much to crack. There were also red cracks in the eastern pool, and lots more red spots, probably skylights. I was also seeing what appeared to be a sort of small spatter cone.
Maybe it was from that spatter cone, because this night we heard a new type of noise. It sounded a lot like a deep mudpot. A low bass sound that reverberated and echoed with a definite liquid sound to it.
It never rained on any visit, although this last night the fog suddenly got so thick there was an easily visible moonbow. The steam from vents in the caldera wall, just below the overlook were hard to see most times, but now they were putting up a fog wall helping too obscure the view.
For the daytime trips, and hikes in other areas, we noticed the number of people suddenly increased around 10:00. As in Yellowstone, it appears tourists don't like to get an early start, and the main tourist areas are at least an hour's drive away.
The volcano paused at about the time of our last daytime visit. We hadn't intended to go there, but it was early morning and for some reason, the trailhead we had planned to go to had its gate closed. But because it was before tourist arrival time, the parking lot was half-empty. Could tell something was different with the activity, because in the first, earlier daytime visit (the first one to check out the area), we could see fountaining, and this time wasn't any of that. Found out later that we had arrived at the start of a pause. So we timed things perfectly.
There was some areas of red at the inlets of the pools, but no activity from the cones. I was also able to confirm that there was some sort of cone-like formation where I was seeing the spurts the night before, a cone I don't remember seeing during earlier daylight visits.
During that visit, with several dozen people at the overlook, some guy started setting up his drone. A tourguide told him that was illegal, but the drone operator said that the rangers gave him permission to fly it. Then he had it lift off and fly down in the crater and back. At that point, I walked over and reminded him that he didn't need to see the lava himself, and just down the road there were several viewpoints whose railing were visible where he could launch in peace because no one would go there. The guy actually packed up and left, and a bit later I think I saw him doing just that. I do hope his YouTube videos get so may views that the NPS will ask for a takedown.
We never saw any rangers out there. At some point I figure the NPS is going to have to do some nighttime patrols and make a few examples of people with the lights and drones, or things are going to get out of control. So far the only fatality this year was a 75 year old man who fell over a cliff at the northern closure.
Halemaumau Crater in the Kilauea Volcano Caldera, 2022 Mar 10
I didn't take much video, and only one still shot. I had to zoom it to x5 or x6 to get any detail, and at that point things are grainy and jump around a lot. If you want to see video, that from a drone is going to be better anyhow.
Here's a series of photos showing some of the activity of Link Geyser and the Chain Lakes Group during the activity in October 1983. Over a period of five days, Mary Ann Moss, Marie Wolf and I got to see several dozen major eruptions. We missed much of the activity of the first day.
Mary Ann took these photos, and as you can see, it was cold, damp and gray that week, which made seeing the eruptions difficult at times, but it didn't snow or rain. For more details on the activity, see my article in one of the early GOSA Transactions. Think of this as a supplement to that article.
Runoff from Link Geyser eruption in Oct 1983. Photos by M.A.Moss.
Here's what we saw of one of the first eruptions we witnessed. A lot of steam coming from opaque water. The ruts produced by the runoff channel didn't get much deeper or wider over the next few days, which supports our conclusion that the first few eruptions that no one saw were even more voluminous and powerful than what we saw.
Link Geyser eruption, October 1983. Photo by M.A.Moss.
Here's one of the better photos, showing some of the details of the jets. I would estimate the height here at around 15 meters. We think we saw higher, more angled jets at times.
Link Geyser runoff, Oct. 1983. Photos by M.A.Moss.
A couple more views of the discharge from an eruption.
Next are a series of close-up views of the drained vents of the Chained Lakes.
Clasp Geyser vent, Oct. 1983. Photo by M.A.Moss.
North Chain Lake Geyser vent, Oct. 1983. Photo by M.A.Moss.
Vent between North and Middle Chain Lake Geysers, Oct. 1983. Photo by M.A.Moss.
Middle Chain Lake Geyser vent, Oct. 1983. Photo by M.A.Moss.
Bottomless Pit vent, Oct, 1983. Photo by M.A.Moss.
Link Geyser vent, Oct. 1983. Photo by M.A.Moss
Link Geyser vent, Oct. 1983. Photo by M.A.Moss
Eruption of Link Geyser, Oct. 1983. Photo by M.A.Moss.
Firehole River just after eruption of Link Geyser, Oct. 1983. Photo by M.A.Moss.
Aftermath of eruption of Link Geyser, Oct. 1983. Photo by M.A.Moss.
Note the debris washed onto the bike trail. We never saw an eruption put out enough water to reach that far, which again supports our assumption that the first eruptions were even larger.
And that's J.Randolph Railey watching the eruption.
Decided that I needed an early morning Grand eruption, so headed out just as it was light enough to not need the headlight. Wasn't foggy like the previous dawn eruption I went out to see, but the walkways were slippery with frost. Waited for three Turban eruption intervals and got a short One Burst Eruption where Vent & Turban didn't quit.
Heard a report of possible Oblong eruption, so went out early to check it out. Shortly after noon I was able to see the empty crater. Also, in the background, I noticed that Solstice was in eruption, the first I've seen it this year. From the Bijou cage, I could see that there were wide runoff channels coming down from it, so it had been erupting for a while. On the way back, on the extreme northernmost part of Oblong's crater I noticed a small jet of water just above the rim.
The Giant Platform seemed to be in a marathon recovery mode, as Bijou was almost off. Every dozen seconds or so a few droplets could be seen coming from it, while the platform itself is as dry as I've seen it. No runoff from Mastiff, no damp spots in the catch basins, and little steam.
Back at Grand, I'd seen a Turban eruption as I tied up my bike. So I was surprised when I saw Turban start about 32 minutes later. Seemed like a Turban Delay Interval. The duration on Turban was well over five minutes, and the next Turban eruption had no overflow from Grand, which tends to confirm my suspicions. But then we got another delay, this one also well over thirty minutes. As the overflow started to look really good, we got a boop out of Grand, followed by over a minute of nothing happening. Then the waves built backup, and then we got a nicely explosive start to a One Burst Grand eruption. The duration was ten minutes and Vent & Turban quit.
Afterwards, went to check out Geyser Hill. Little Squirt had just started, and I wanted to observe the frying pans I'd seen back in May. It was obviously too warm and too soon for there to be any activity. About an hour later, it looked like there might be some steam coming from the main area, but that could have been just wishful thinking. Also on Geyser Hill, caught a weak Depression eruption that mostly had heavy upwelling and strong overflow until it suddenly dropped about 40cm.
Before sunset, the Sawmill Group was in a deep drain. As I was walking up the hill, Sawmill had a "Big Tardy" eruption with a duration of around 25 seconds.
Over at the Grand Group, Sput D was periodic. After about a half hour, that lead to West Triplet erupting, but not followed by Rift. Once the pool of Grand looked good, it took its time while the waves on the pool slowly got stronger. The sun had already set, but there was still enough glow in the sky to nicely illuminate the burst, which quit at 8m10s. It was steamy, and hard to tell at first, but we did get a nice, tall second burst. At around the 45 second mark, Grand didn't go into "Big Sawmill" mode. It went into "Big Tardy" mode. For about 15 seconds the height of the jets were 10 to 12 meters, at most. Then it finally quit, and for the next minute, it appeared there was water in the pool as the jetting from Vent got stronger and stronger. Finally, after about 90 seconds, the pool appeared empty, and Vent quickly died down and ceased entirely.
With no reports on Grand and it being at almost eight hours, made a quick trip out to check on it. Was one of the foggier days for this trip, and I could tell Sawmill was erupting from the runoff, but I couldn't see it. Wasn't until I got to Rift that I found a quiet, empty crater at Grand. So probably erupted as much as two hours earlier.
Was coming out for the next Grand eruption, but first I got to see a less than four minute long Castle minor eruption. No Turban Delay, but did have to wait through several Turban eruption intervals before Grand started. The first burst lasted almost nine minutes, and the pause between the bursts was short. Unlike a number of the recent two burst eruptions, the behavior in Grand's pool was leaving no doubt of a second.
Did a check on East Sentinel, which is unchanged. Still having 19 minute cycles, although the first heavy overflow I saw was not followed by any activity from the South Rim. From there, spent about 45 minutes at Fan & Mortar, and decided that it was in garbage mode and since it was so soon after the previous eruption, I was wasting my time there.
Found that I can get from the cabin to Fan & Mortar in about seven minutes. Only came close to hitting one person who "had their head up their app". (Old Faithful was in eruption. A whole line of people lined up along the fence along the Inn, except one geezer who had to stand in the middle of the trail to get his selfie, and immediately look at himself in the little screen.) Got there with little time to spare. Didn't drop my pack or get out the raincoat, as by this time Upper Mortar was already having large minor eruptions about a minute apart. After the second minor that I saw, Angle vent looked strange, as if it was in a steamphase, while there was no activity from Gold and only moderate from High. After the third huge minor, when all of Mortar was quiet, suddenly Fan's East Vent kicked in, and then all the vents joined in.
This was the third Fan & Mortar eruption in a row that seemed to come with little warning. The prior activity of Fan did not have the intensity of the previous eruptions, since this time Mortar was dominating. But in each case, there was something about the activity that said that this was not a normal event cycle, and that people needed to be informed.
Following that excitement, went out for a sunset Grand eruption. In the Sawmill Group, the water levels were high enough that Slurp was quiet. Belgian and Crystal were way down, about 6cm.
I believe I saw the Delay eruption when I arrived, as it was a long eruption, and the next Turban interval matched the usual behavior -- no overflow. Also, Turban initiated the eruption, which seems to mostly happen only after a Turban Eruption Delay.
That One Burst Grand eruption was also right at sunset, so the water column of Grand was nicely tinted (and not from smoke) as the sun shone through a gap in the clouds. During the wait, West Triplet also had a short, less than seven minute long eruption, which shut down the other sputs for a bit, but they were back to erupting after the Grand eruption.
Wasn't planning to head out in the morning, but just as breakfast was ready to eat, got the call about Beehive's Indicator. Had plenty of time to get out to see the Beehive eruption which was in dead calm conditions. I didn't see the Base Vent do anything during the eruption.
After that, did head out for Grand, a ten minute One Burst Eruption followed by West Triplet erupting.
With nothing much else going on, went out to Lone Star. Arrived at the end of the first minor eruption. Twelve minutes later, another eruption started. About a minute in, the size and power seemed to increase dramatically, and water could be seen coming from the small vents on the left size. Then, after only two and a third minutes, it all quit. It was 26 minutes before the major eruption started, which was an interval of about 3h15m between the major eruptions.
Back at Grand, arrived with Percolator in eruption. This is moderately unusual, and indicative of West Triplet starting soon. But West Triplet didn't start until an hour-and-a-quarter later. During this time there were just a series of non-descript Turban eruptions.
Grand started shortly after West Triplet. The One Burst Eruption lastest 10-1/4 minutes, and there was water in Grand's vent for about twenty seconds before it drained. Then right after the end, Rift started steaming, so we stayed around to watch the water start down the runoff and go under the walkway.
Over at the Sawmill Group, there was a deep drain in progress. Tardy was having a series of single bursts, two or three per minutes, followed by a longer eruption lasting about a minute with a similar pause before the start of the next series of single bursts.
Did get to see Tilt start while waiting for Castle. Castle waited until the sun had set before erupting. We had left maybe a couple of minutes earlier.
Went out to see the midnight One Burst Grand Eruption, which lasted about eleven minutes. As expected, Belgian and Crystal had risen to near normal height, in response to Rift, and were starting to drop again.
