Notes and Observations on Geysers in Yellowstone and Elsewhere
Well, just as I was about to make some more modifications to make the streaming camera work better on these pages, it disappeared. Don't know if it got turned off, or how long it'll stay off or if they just changed the URL to keep people like me out. Oh, well.
I've changes a couple of items on this page.
First, the "Current Geyser Activity" has been removed because there's no current information to report. During the past couple of months Mary Beth Schwarz allowed me to keep it fairly current by reporting activity of Grand, Beehive, Fan & Mortar and Giant, but with the end of the season, so have those reports.
But I've also added the new streaming video webcam. In order to view it, you will need to download the Silverlight plugin from Microsoft. Once you do that,you will see a small thumbnail of the realtime video direct from the broadcast server. If you click on the image, you will be taken to a full image page, which also show the old static webcam images. Clicking on the blue dot will zoom out to full screen mode, while the red/green will start and stop the broadcast. Unfortunately, because of network latencies and buffering, it doesn't stop or restart immediately. But it will allow screen captures. I'm hoping to add some other new features, like zooming the staic camera and a "bozo blocker" once I figure out how.
Why am I using a new proprietary technology from the Evil Software Empire? For two reasons. One is that it quickly allowed me to create the code necessary for these pages, since the Mac doesn't seem to have native support for the protocol used, and I wanted to see it. The other reason is that I've been the "Mac Guy" on this project for the last year and a half, and I think it's nice demonstration of its capabilities and what we've done. It took me only 20 minutes to get the basic display working. And since it's not using Flash, people who block out all those annoying and stupid twitching ads can still see this. (Off the record, as far as we're concerned, Adobe's welcome to that market.)
If anyone wants to add this sort of thing to their website, contact me if you can't figure out the code. It's easy, and the network load is entirely on the video server. Just make sure you credit me.
This is probably the last posting here. Since I'm no longer in the park, I don't have access to any of the information necessary to make them. I attempted to see if I could interest anyone else in helping to continue it after I left, but found no takers. I am getting some information on Grand, Giant and Beehive and such, but in the "Current Activity" panel, I've disabled several other geysers on which I won't be getting any up-to-date information. The postings will stay here for the foreseeable future.
If I have accomplished anything, it was to show that doing these things, right from Yellowstone, is not only possible, but fairly easy. (I've learned that one can also buy web modem-like access through some cellphone providers, too.) With cellphones and text messaging, it should be possible to set up a server on which people can report geyser times and info, which doesn't require them yelling into a radio and the Visitor Center starting yet another Abbot and Costello "Who's On First" routine. Which then raises the question, why doesn't an entity like GOSA do it? A cynical guess would be because most groupies are happy with the current chaos, both within the park and from home. More likely, it's just because it's not occurred to anyone to try this, and leadership has always been lacking among gazers (not an opinion here, but fact based on a couple decades of experience). I'm open to some consulting and when it comes to commercial programming, my rates are reasonable and competitive.
Mary Beth Schwarz reports that since I've left, the mode shift at Grand continues. There have been several more false Vent overflow delays, and then yesterday (04 July) Grand had it's first known "boop" delay in several years. (A "boop" is when, during a Turban heavy overflow delay, Grand has boiling to up to several feet over its vent which does not result in an eruption. )Like the false Vent overflows, this usually results in several Turban interval delays.In this case, six. Fortunately, the delay took place early in the Grand interval, which kept that interval from being excessively long.
The migration home (every migration is a round trip) was boring and almost uneventful. As always, I packed up the night before and then left before dawn at 04:45. Took me 13 hours and 22 minutes to travel 752.9 miles. Not too bad considering there were stops along the way, a few passes to climb, 30 miles in the park, and the last thirteen miles taking 40 minutes along the beautiful West Lake Sammammish Parkway into beautiful downtown Redmond.
One small incident at the very beginning. On the way out, encountered the first oncoming vehicle north of Nez Perce Creek. Was still getting used to not having driven for 6 weeks, and the lighting was such that it was still hard to see details despite moonlight and dawn. Came around a curve and wondered what was it about the road that didn't look right. It was a large elk standing in the other lane, just sort of staring stupidly at me (about as stupidly as I was staring at him as I approached). I swerved around, and that was it. Like I said, other than the radio stopping working when I left the last rest stop (Elk Heights, hmmm...) it was perhaps one of the most boring trips I've had on that route.
Grand decided that it needs to not only have more long intervals, but to resurrect a pattern I've not seen this trip: the one where every Turban interval is about 30 seconds shorter than the previous,and Grand won't even try to erupt until there's an interval of about 17 minutes or so. And even then, there's no guarantee that you won't just get some sort of Turban delay. But this time everything cooperated and we got a less than ten minute long two burst eruption.
Then while starting to pack up the truck for the trip back, I got a bonus. Haven't really seen Beehive all trip, because so many of the eruptions have been without the Indicator. The previous eruption someone announced that water was rising in the Indicator, and within a minute, Beehive was in eruption. I was in my cabin, and barely got out the door from one radio call to the next. Weeks ago I'd resigned myself to seeing Beehive no closer than from the river overlook, if I was lucky.
Today we got another such call, but this time the Indicator cooperated. I was able to walk fast and get to about Anemone when Beehive took off. With the prevailing winds, that meant I was on the wrong side, and took the cold drenching to get to the other side. There were full 360° rainbows in there somewhere, but I didn't stick around for them. That water was cold. I wish I'd brought the camera, because not only was that the first time I've seen the Second Indicator, for much of the eruption it appeared taller than the Indicator itself. And I still don't know who exactly it was who gave out the call.
For the second afternoon in a row, Grand had a false Vent overflow. Today at least Grand finally did erupt during West Triplet, but I don't like this sort of behavior, and almost thankful that I won't be around to have it frustrate me. While waiting, we did have a herd of elk and their calves appear below Castle and head off across the walkway and north.
Lately Grand has been having a long interval followed by a couple of shorts, or some sort of variation on the theme (like two longs in a row, or three shorts, etc.) Today it tried something different. The early morning interval was a long, so I expected a short. Instead we got one of the longest intervals of my stay. It seemed to break all the rules. We had a false Vent overflow, West Triplet erupted a second time without Grand following along, and had several short (under 17 minute) Turban intervals, and Grand finally initiated the eruption for The Burst and Quit. It was a hot day and fun was had all around.
At least it kept to form for the nighttime eruption, with a little over seven hour interval putting the start in the second minute of July. But what I don't understand is why tourists come out on a moonlit night and then proceed to wave weak flashlights at the eruption. Fortunately the moon was so bright that they didn't matter.
... who want to progress to the next level.
In no particular order, here are some words of advice for those new to Yellowstone's geyser activity:
Coming back from downbasin, I always look over on Geyser Hill as I bike up that well-despised hill the Inn sits on. It's mostly to check for a Beehive Indicator, but occasionally I do get to see something else of interest. This morning, after Grand, I noticed that Giantess was putting up a strong, well defined steam cloud. Now it was around 08:45, which is a bit late for any dry ice effects, but the last few days we've been having calm mornings, and those are excellent conditions for Giantess to have its big boils. Not making any predictions, but just noting that this is the first time that I've seen anything at all from that pool.
The second burst of the mid-day Grand eruption was had a long second burst that featured lots of Big Sawmill action. During the last half minute, Vent was reduced to a steam jet with little to no water visible. The post-eruption pause, at over 23 minutes, was unusually long, too.
I was a bit surprised that for a Grand eruption that would take place just after sunset with a full moon in warm conditions, there were just a few tourists out beside me. No gazers or even geyser groupies. I remember years past where there would have been a dozen or so of us out there. Then again, most of those people have gone, been driven away, or gotten older. But still, you'd think that some of the newer gazers would take advantage of such opportunities.
Thanks to Grand once again deciding to have a long interval when it could instead have erupted by moonlight, I got to see that Grotto was still in its marathon eruption when I left at 04:30. Which, it turns out, was just about the time it shut down. Grotto was off and dead by 05:20. So once again, the Bijou Monkey Cage would be filling mid-morning and overflowing by noon. Grand had a consecutive long interval, and despite the breeze, it was a hot wait there.
Had already decided earlier in the week that if a Giant hot period started while I was at Grand, I was not going to race down to the Cage with the rest of the herd, but stay there and, should it actually erupt, try and get some photos, and get to see what it looks like from there. Today I got my chance. Unfortunately, some of the pictures were blurred because I was in such a hurry and the camera is so slow to respond. As with last week, the time between the start of Mastiff's surging turning into actual jetting until the start of Giant seemed to last forever, despite it being just a bit under two minutes.
I do sort of wish that the circumstances of the two eruptions, this one and last week's, were reversed, as I'd really have liked to have heard just how high this one was. It was definitely larger that earlier, but by how much? (Maybe someday, instead of immediately yakking into their cell phones from within the Monkey Cage every time, some people can put the effort into seeing and recording eruptions from other locations like I've tried to do. And I do resent, just a bit, how a number of geyser groupies just assumed I'd be measuring this height like last time.)
The Grotto that started the night before didn't last, so when I came out for the middle of the night Grand, nothing much was happening down there. Giant's platform looked like there hadn't been an event in hours. Thanks to Grand having a 9 hour interval, I got to see the platform again, when it looked unchanged just before a short, weak hot period. But then Grotto started, and it became apparant that this was going to be the hoped for marathon.
The marathon meant that it was possible to be elsewhere, and I was able to fulfill other obligations, as the photo shows. I'm told that while I was gone, Beehive had an eruption that was actually preceded by the Indicator. That evening, thirteen hours after the start, Grotto was still erupting.
The marathon quit shortly after sunrise, setting things up for an afternoon of Giant. A short afternoon, as the hot period took place at 12:44. It was disappointing because it didn't last long (about 9 minutes) and did not feature much in the way of Mastiff activity. And then the hourly hot periods resumed with a Mastiff bathtub.
That activity continued, with the last daylight hot period actually the best of the day, and in some ways better than the recovery hot period. Grotto also started only about a half hour earlier, so it was hoped that it was a new marathon starting, and this all meant everyone could get a good night's rest.
Grand finally almost cooperated by erupting just before sunset, with the light disappearing late in the eruption. There was a particularly intense rainbow coming straight out of Vent when you stood in the right location. It would cooperated better if it had had a second burst.
Turns out it was a mistake. Spent a whole night, and the next day, seeing weak hot periods and short Grotto eruptions. Grotto finally went into a marathon at 14:35, and Giant had the big hot period we'd been expecting for 36 hours shortly after that. The first six minutes of it seemed fairly ordinary, the only distinguishing feature being a number of previously quiet vents were active. Then, several minutes after Feather had quit, it restarted and Giant started massive surging. So much so that observers there insisted Giant was about to start. Unfortunately, it didn't, and now we wait out the marathon.
Grand seems to like having short intervals during the evening, night and early mornings, reserving the longer intervals for mid day when the crowds are the largest. The morning eruption was right at the time when the sun was appearing over the trees, so that only the tops of the jets, and the mass of the second burst were illuminated.
Another pretty dull day, with lots of weak Giant hot periods and waiting for Grotto to do something. But as the day progressed, the amount of surging in Giant and Mastiff got stronger. Made it easy to believe that something might happen, and soon.
24 June 2007
Grotto went into a marathon eruption. Start time was almost certainly the eruption the previous night, as it was erupting when I was out at Grand after midnight. Well into the eruption Grotto had the first observed Rocket major eruption that I have heard of for this year, at 12:48. Lasted only a couple of minutes, and a strange time for it. But the marathon ended shortly thereafter.
This set the recovery hot period in the early nighttime hours. The duration was a bit disappointingly short, but an indication that at least we don't need to worry too much about any eruption taking place on Sunday.
Fan & Mortar continued their usual chaotic behavior with flashes of " hot periods" which sucked in a new set of the newly arrived who someone get the idea that the very first cycle they see is the one that's going to initiate an eruption. Despite being the same as what everyone else has been seeing for weeks.
Beehive broke out of its window, with a late evening eruption. Again, it appears that there was no indicator. Beehive surged a couple of times and then took off.
Been a dull series of days, with little to report, other than Beehive had yet another Beehive eruption with not just no indicator, but no warning. Someone whose voice I don't recognize was at Lion for the start, and because she was facing away, was caught by surprise.
And yes, below is another Grotto Fountain that didn't result in the start of Grotto.
22 June 2007
