Spent the day at Norris, which will be the last time that happens this year.
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Observations for 2024 May 26
Traveling north at 06:00, we'd just passed Fountain Paint Pots and were about to start across Fountain Flats when I noticed a truck-camper stopped in the road at the Thud Group. Next I noticed there was a bison standing right next to the road. I thought it odd that someone would be stopping for a lone bison at that time of day, considering that they'd probably seen many bison the day before.
As we approached, it continued on its way. Next to the bison, maybe 20 feet away, was another shape that I initially thought was a calf. But it was the wrong color, and the wrong shape. It was a wolf, intently staring at the bison. I too stopped for a minute, then we continued on our way. In the passenger side mirror I saw a calf next to the bison, and realized what was going on. The wolf was looking for an opportunity to get today's meal, and the bison wasn't going to let that happen. (Or the wolf was waiting for a distraction)
Arrived at Norris at 07:10, and twelve minutes later New Crater/Steamboat had a small minor eruption better than anything we saw yesterday. It had the look and feel that it could be the start of an eruption, but then it started to die down. There was little to no activity after than for quite a while.
Over the next few hours, there were a few smaller such minor eruptions, but each were isolated, and not part of a series that looked like something could be building. For the last few hours of our stay, things were about as quiet as yesterday. After a stay of six hours, we left.
Back at the Upper Geyser Basin, went out to Grand at the six hour mark. Saw a Turban eruption, and unlike yesterday, were all the Turban eruptions were well under four minutes long, this one lasted over four.
The follow up did not look good, at the twenty minute mark the steamy Grand Pool looked full, but it also started to look like we were going to have a Turban Delay interval. But fortunately Grand had an explosive start at 23m16s.
This burst ended just as abruptly a bit over 7-1/2 minutes later. We were either going to get more bursts, or witness perhaps the shorted eruption recorded. It was a quick, twenty second pause, and then Grand restarted. This burst lasted just over the 1m15s that qualifies as a Long burst. For the last 30 seconds or so, Grand was in Big Sawmill mode. This was a bit disappointing, as now the eruption was long enough that it could be over. Instead, the forty second pause resulted in a third burst. This one too qualified as a Long, lasting 2m22s. By the time it ended, the duration for Grand's eruption was well over 12 minutes. As expected, there was no attempt at a fourth, and Vent and Turban quickly shut down.
2024-May-26:16:02:15 G3*#Q 16:02:15 B1 --- d=07m37s 16:02:52 Turban 0m37s 16:05:52 Vent 3m37s 16:09:52 P1 7m37s d=20s 16:10:13 B2 7m57s d=01m17s 16:11:30 P2 9m14s d=40s 16:12:10 B3 9m55s d=02m22s 16:14:32 P3 12m17s 16:14:57 V&T Quit 12m42s ΣB=11m16s ΣD=12m17s * * * * * 15:38:59 d=04m05s Grand: 23m16s
Around sunset, went out to Geyser Hill to check on Beehive. The interval was well over 17 hours, so it might erupt any time, including a No Indicator start, which seem more common on longer intervals (I'll leave it to someone else to confirm or refute this observation.) But an hour later it still hadn't erupted, so I headed back in.
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Observations for 2024 May 25
Went to Norris just because it's been over 50 days since that last New Crater/Steamboat eruption, and there have been some reports of it having minor activity that looked encouraging. Arrived at 07:30 to clear skies, and by the time we left four hours later, it was cloudy, windy and starting to rain.
The overflow down from the South Vent is continuous, with frequent surges much of the time. At the bottom the bridge is just above the debris, and the runoff is stained chartreause by the plant life growing in it. But we never saw any good, strong, and sustained activity while waiting.
BWe made it back to the Old Faithful area with only one small delay due to a solitary bison standing on the road's shoulder just north of the Mallard Lake Trailhead. There we found that the window for Grand was open, so we headed out.
Only to find Rift in eruption. And Grand having the first of several Turban Delay intervals. As the summary shows, we ended up waiting five hours with little indication of an eruption. Rift stopped erupting about an hour after arrival, and that coincided with one of the Turban Delay intervals. There was another an hour later.
During this time Bulger was active, with several short but powerful eruptions from Bulger's Hole. During one of those eruptions, about 2-1/2 hours after Rift ended, it suddenly started putting our steam under considerable pressure. It looked like it might be trying to restart. An hour later there was a second such period of activity, but not as strong.
The rains started with the first Turban Delay that we saw, and became pretty much continuous by the time Grand erupted. That eruption was preceeded by a strange Turban eruption. It lasted less than 2-1/2 minutes, but emptied Grand's pool such that it looked like there had been a longer, Delay-type eruption.
Fortunately, Grand finally released the five poeple who were still waiting for it on the next eruption of Turban. The wind was such that we could at least see the start, but the eruption abruptly ended at 9m15s. The hope for a second burst was ended when the wind finally blew away enough steam that the empty crater was visible.
2024-May-25:18:27:21 D3/D11/T1C 18:26:58 Turban -0m23s 18:27:09 Vent Ovfl -0m12s 18:27:21 B1 --- d=09m15s 18:29:04 Vent 1m43s 18:36:36 P1 9m15s Vent & Turban continue ΣD=09m15s * * * * * 13:09:20 d=04m29s 13:27:07 Int: 17m47s d=04m06s 14:01:16 Int: 34m09s d=04m35s D0 14:18:45 Int: 17m29s d=03m32s D1 14:36:09 Int: 17m24s d=03m17s D2 15:06:58 Int: 30m49s d=04m13s D3/D0 15:24:16 Int: 17m18s d=03m20s D3/D1 15:41:28 Int: 17m12s d=03m34s D3/D2 15:58:55 Int: 17m27s d=03m33s D3/D3 16:17:32 Int: 18m37s d=03m08s D3/D4 16:36:24 Int: 18m52s d=03m10s D3/D5 16:54:10 Int: 17m46s d=03m26s D3/D6 17:13:06 Int: 18m56s d=03m23s D3/D7 17:30:06 Int: 17m00s d=03m49s D3/D8 17:48:35 Int: 18m29s d=03m37s D3/D9 18:06:40 Int: 18m05s d=02m26s D3/D10 Turban: 20m18s
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Observations for 2024 May 24
Waited less than a Turban eruption interval for the first One Burst Grand eruption of this visit. The wind was pushing the steam uphill, so at least it was pretty.
2024-May-24:18:10:28 T1C 18:10:13 Turban -0m15s 18:10:20 Vent Ovfl -0m08s 18:10:28 B1 --- d=09m40s 18:13:28 Vent 2m59s 18:20:09 P1 9m40s Vent & Turban continue ΣD=09m40s
Did a quick visit down to Economic. It was full and convecting, and obvious that there had been some activity. East Economic was also full, and looked like there wasn't much slime over the vent area. The rest of the features of the area, from Key and Shoe to Crack looked unchanged from previous years.
With eruptions of Daisy and Riverside during our short time out there, and will Beehive and Castle having erupted during our drive, there wasn't much reason to stay out.
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2024 April 08 Total Solar Eclipse
Getting to the eclipse was an adventure.
Months ago we made three reservations in southwest Texas. Two were in the path, near the centerline. Because these were AirBnb or Vrbo type accommodations, we made a third reservation, at a commercial motel in Sonora, just in case. For one reason, we got the accommodations pretty cheaply, and we figured that the owners weren't aware that there might a reason for demand for rooms that weekend.
Turns out that was a smart move, as both reservations canceled out on us. The first was six months before the eclipse, and we were told it was because the current tenant decided to stay an extra month. Okay, that's believable, but inconvenient. It was replaced with a second, nicer reservation but at a location where we'd probably have to drive to get a good totality length.
The second one just canceled on us. A little Internet search turned up that we weren't the only clients getting dropped. The booking agency agreed, and told us that we could replace it, and they would reimburse us for the difference and bill the original seller.
A week to ten days before the eclipse we started to get the long term weather forecasts, and they weren't good. All of Texas was going to be overcast, as was much of the Midwest. One had to get to Ohio or farther east before for even the possibility of clear skies.
So we made arrangements and reservations as far east as Buffalo, as we figured we should be able to get that far. Then more forecasts came in, and the northeast started getting worse, while the central area in Illinois and Missouri were the best of a lot of poor choices. More reservations were made, and remade giving us options all along the path.
We left at dawn on Saturday, and as we crossed Colorado, the wind began to increase in strength. By the time we got into Kansas, the truck was bucking along due to a 40+mph wind from the south. Passing the large trucks was sometimes an adventure. On at least one occasion I thought the truck in front of me was listing a bit too far into my lane.
The wind also had the effect of causing a 20% reduction in my gas mileage. Which meant getting into our intended refueling spot with the low-fuel light on for the last 15 miles. Fortunately, that usually means I have about 30-40 miles left. Our policy for the rest of the trip was to refuel at half-tank.
That night in Higginsville, Mo., we made our final decisions on where to go, and a bunch of reservations got canceled. We were left with Mountain View, Ark, Perryville, Mo. and Carbondale, Ill. by then, and based on the forecasts, opted for the eastern one (Carbondale). But, just in case, we decided that, instead of heading there directly, we would investigate the area northeast of Poplar Bluff. There was a reservoir at Wappapello that looked like a good spot, and it was only a two hour drive from Carbondale.
That area was definitely our top choice, especially after looking over the Carbondale options the evening of our arrival on Sunday and finding them less than inspiring. So before dawn on eclipse day, we headed south for the only bridge across the Mississippi that didn't require our going in a wrong direction. It was humid, and it wasn't long before we got to drive in thick fog. Fortunately, there was almost no traffic (although I did have to wait for a train once). We arrived at Wappapello shortly before sunrise and the day use areas were mostly deserted.
That area is fairly hilly, without much in the way of open vistas. One exception would be the shores of a reservoir, which is why we liked the area. At the Peoples Creek Recreation Area there was an open view to the south and west. We should easily be able to see in incoming umbra just fine, especially perched up a bit on a hillside. There were a few streetlights near the restroom buildings, and one was still on as we arrived, but they would not cause a problem when it got dark.
The wait was uneventful. Got set up on the hillside, and ended up being joined by several people we knew. After we arrived, Suzanne sent out messages with both descriptions and pictures of our chosen spot, and based on that, they decided to also drive the two hours to join us.
For awhile around first contact, there was a stream of people arriving, including the geyser gazers, but the area never filled. The parking lot below us for boaters was maybe a third full of cars and the few RV vans. I was pleasantly surprised there weren't any of the big bus RVs there running their generators.
As in 1998 and 2017, I set up a stationary camera to record the experience of the eclipse, rather than trying to record the eclipsed sun. This time I realized early on that it might be nice to capture the changing sky conditions as a time lapse video, too.
The phone camera just isn't good enough and it's just too distracting, so all I did was wave it around for about 30 seconds. Spent about the last two minutes of totality instead looking through binoculars at the corona.
The light immediately after the eclipse seemed whiter than the time approaching totality. Maybe it was an effect of the high clouds and our eyes being adjusted to the darkness.
On my video I see some people launched their boat during totality, and there was traffic over the dam during the first minute. The first car took off about a minute after the end. Most people there left during the next half hour, but we fixed a lunch and waited around until fourth contact. (About 75 minutes.) There were still a number of people hanging around as we left.
Not sure if it's an artifact from the camera recording, but there seems to be a definite edge to the shadow moving toward us at the end which wasn't visible at the start of totality.
It was surprising that we had no trouble driving the two hours back to our room in Carbondale. I was expecting the bridge across the Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau to act as a bottleneck, but that wasn't the case. Probably wasn't much different from normal late afternoon traffic. The drive back took longer only because we took a few minor detours along the way, and we still arrived well before dark.
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GeyserLog 3.6.1
GeyserLog 3.6.1 is now available on the iOS AppStore.
Not much has changed with this release, mostly fixing typos and display glitches. Some changes to the layout of events on the Recents and Favorites views. "Database Cleanup" now resyncs features, groups and users.
The next release should be version 4.0, which will include support for Notebook pages— creating, saving and displaying notes and eruption information locally on the device, without having to use GeyserTimes as a substitute notebook.
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North Goggles Geyser, 2023
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Grand Geyser Starts, 2023 (Pt.4)
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Grand Geyser Starts, 2023 (Pt.3)
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Grand Geyser Starts, 2023 (Pt.2)
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Grand Geyser Starts, 2023 (Pt.1)
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Guess the Geyser
Every year during our summer visits, Suzanne buys a Yellowstone calendar for the coming year. The new calendar went up in the hallway to the kitchen at the start of January, and the picture on the first month was labeled "Fountain Geyser".
Except when I saw it, I immediately noticed it didn't look quite right. More like Morning. But with all the post processing going on with photos, I figured that maybe that was it, combined with color changes and a telephoto shot to make it look really close up. Artistic, but not realistic?
But the more I saw it, the more I was convinced that it was not Fountain, but what? Then a week or so ago, I noticed something in the upper right corner that proved that not only was it not Fountain, or anything in the Fountain Group, but not even in Yellowstone.
It helped that I'd seen the same geyser activity back in September. What I saw was a bench, just like the ones around Strokkur. At that point, it all made sense. The shape of the water, the color of the formation, the trees and hills in the background.
This sort of thing happened a lot back in the 19th Century. I have a whole series of mislabeled photographs, bought years ago when I was actively collecting such photos. Now I've got one more for the collection.
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GeyserLog 3.6
GeyserLog 3.6 is now available on the iOS AppStore.
This started out as 3.5.2, a bugfix and cleanup release. But it ended up with some new functionality.
The GeyserLog-Today widget has been removed, replaced by new WidgetKit blocks showing either Recents, Favorites, or Predictions. All three widget sizes are supported, and the wider Recents will include the display of notes.
The Watch app has been rewritten, and now includes a Predictions panel.
A new large Rectangular watch widget has been added, showing recent favorites eruptions. Like the Circular widget, which is still available, it will also record an observation in the app.
And, after way too much work, background refresh finally appears to be actually working as intended.
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Changes at Hveravellir, Iceland
Tara Cross recently sent me some photos that she took during her visit to Hveravellir in Iceland on 2011 August 26. There were a number of changes between her visit and our visit last year. She also wasn't aware of the map of the area and not sure about the exact locations of some features in relation to what we saw. But we were able to figure things out.
Most notable was the difference in walkways. Some have been removed while others added. This made identification of changed features a little tricky at first.
This is a view of Fagrihver. The walkway in the back went over to Meyjarauga, one of the more colorful springs in the area. The walkway is no longer there because Meyjarauga has filled in and disappeared. In the decade since this photo was taken, Fagrihver has roofed over much of the left portion of the vent, as the recent screenshot shows. So it too may disappear in the near future.
Rauðihver (Red Spring) was also erupting during her visit. It's not as full as what we saw last year, but the activity is from the same vent area. I've seen online videos taken a few years ago where this feature was a hot, blue pool. It must cycle between ugly and active, and pretty but quiet.
This is Eyvindarhver, a spring that was altered centuries ago so it could be used for cooking. (It's the closest spring to Eyvindar's shelter to the west.) Years ago it was known to behave as a geyser. The photo shows some splashing from what appeared to her to be a steamy perpetual spouter. For our visit, it was acting like a fumarole. There are videos from a few years ago of the fumarolic action being more powerful and noisier.
This is an overview of Bóluhver/Heimilishver, looking toward the east. There is now a walkway running along the boundary betweenthe runoff and the sinter area allowing a closer view of this feature and Gjósandi, which would be to the left.
This is H-204q, a small feature near Bóluhver/Heimilishver. It's not really visible from the current walkways.
This is H-204m. It's located near H-204q, and is a small geyser that Cross saw erupt while there:
I finally saw it at 1445 erupting to 1 to 2 feet with a duration [of] about 2 minutes. It erupted again at 1524, refilled at 1533, and had periodic bubbling episodes until it erupted again at 1601, d~2m50s. Only two data points, I know, but it’s quite possible that it is a regular geyser erupting at intervals of roughly 35 to 40 minutes.
[Sput, Dec 2011, v25n6, pg.19]
We didn't see it as it was partly hidden downslope behind Bóluhver/Heimilishver, and since we saw Gjósandi erupting nearby, didn't realize the complex actually had two geyser features in it. The Hveravellir base map has a small annotation next to the feature mark-- "gýs", a notation I don't see anywhere else on the map. I got a translation as that meaning "erupt". With all the little sputtering features located on the map, this was only one worthy of that special note.
Niermann in his Volcanic Springs website says that H-204m and H-204q were "small intermittent springs" and includes photos of both.
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Geyser Names and Feature Designations
Here's an interesting entry at GeyserTimes concerning some new activity on Geyser Hill.
First, since the feature's activity seems associated with Little Squirt, why was it not given a designation like "GT-TD2-Little Squirt"? Seems like it's being associated with the wrong feature.
The activity around this feature has been around for at least 2-1/2 years. I noted it and posted a photo of the area on 2021 May 23. Later on I noted in the May 26 report that it seemed to be active along with Little Squirt.
On Geyser Hill, these sorts of areas of hot ground come and go, and a few years from now this feature may not even be locatable. (For example, back in the 1980s several deep holes appeared next to the boardwalk near Plume. The NPS put railings up. After a few years the holes naturally filled in, but the railings were still there until a boardwalk renovation was done. Now the location of the holes can only be found if you know where to look. No activity, so no name left hanging.)
So why the need for a name now? A designation is fine, but who tried to slap the name "Pygmy" on this, and why? I guess it's a way for people to leave their mark. But until the activity stabilizes, any name would be inappropriate. We have a proliferation of many ephemeral features with silly names already. Plus, a feature that's evolving shouldn't be named for a characteristic that can easily change. (The best example of that is Graceful Geyser at Norris, which really was graceful until it turned itself into a ragged hole.)
Which leads to the part about "USBGN's policy on derogatory names." Because of the long standing policy of not naming thermal features after people, living or dead, we have been spared iconoclasm from the perpetually offended over geyser names now being considered somehow offensive to someone, somewhere. With a few exceptions. But, the last time I looked, a few years ago, "Chinese Spring" did not appear in the USBGN online database, but "Chinaman Spring" still did. (I've always thought Belgian Pool will get the rename treatment someday...)
Yes, "pygmy" is a word that was used to describe some groups of people. It's also a synonym for "small", as is "midget", or "dwarf" or "runt", or "elf", or "model", or "fairy", or "shrimpy", all meaning "littleness". Shall we assume that any geyser name implying "littleness" needs to be changed, lest someone somewhere who doesn't care at all about geysers is momentarily offended on behalf of someone no one has ever met?
Finally, under current policy, it appears the USBGN is never going to approve "Pygmy", or any other name, for any feature any more, no matter how inoffensive. Last century I put in the effort get a number of Sawmill group features made "official". A few years after that I encountered Whittlesey who made a comment about how wonderful it was that GOSA had done the work on those names. I pointed out to him that GOSA had nothing to do with it, but it was one individual who took the initiative and did all the work alone. It was shortly after that that the moratorium on looking at making thermal feature names official came down, which I find to be an interesting coincidence.
So at this point the owners of GeyserTimes have become an arbiter of thermal feature names, taking on the role abdicated by the USGBN and the bureaucrats at Mammoth. I hope they put this power to use wisely for the future.
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Mudpot M-14, Upper Geyser Basin
This feature is located in the middle of grid cell M-14 on the USGS Miscellaneous Investigations Map I-1371, on the west bank of the Firehole just downstream from the High Bridge on the road to Craig Pass.