Morning Geyser, Reclusive sentinel of the Lower Geyser Basin

Last summer, there were several geyser events that occurred in Yellowstone National Park that had set the geyser gazing community abuzz with excitement. One of the most significant events was the reawakening of one of the most powerful geysers in the park; Morning Geyser. Located in the  Lower Geyser Basin, North of Old Faithful, Morning Geyser is a sight to see. It's eruptions are capable of being 200 feet tall and 100 feet wide, and when viewed on a clear sunny day, the pictures themselves are breathtaking. 

Morning Geyser, May 6, 2013. Photo Curtsey of Maureen M.

Morning erupted for the first time in 18 years on June 20, 2012. The news spread like wildfire, and soon gazers were arriving at the park in droves to try to get a glimpse of this possibly once-in-a-lifetime event. And on the bright sunny morning of June 21, 2012, More than a dozen gazers witnessed Morning rise and erupt in all of it's splendor at 10:40. 

 

Video by Tara Cross

 If you listen closely in the video and turn up the volume, just before the large bursts, you can hear a muffled "WHUMPH". The origin of this sound comes from a amazing phenomena that only happens in a handful of geysers around the world; the blue bubble. blue bubbles form when the entire conduit underneath the pool of the geyser is filled with steam, the pressure from the steam pushes the remaining water out all at once, but instead of spraying in all directions immediately, the surface tension of the water holds it together as a massive azure blue bubble for a split second, before it explodes and sends water bursting in all directions. 

Classic Blue Bubble at Strokkur Geyser in Iceland, Blue bubbles almost always occur at the onset of this geyser's eruptions. Photo curtsey of www.wjla.com via google images.

At Morning, there are numerous blue bubbles during it's eruptions, and although I have yet to see a picture of an intact blue bubble at Morning, there are some incredible photo's taken directly after one bursts. Such as below. Once again, this is the May 6th eruption. 

Photo Curtsey of Maureen M.

After it's initial eruptions on June 20 and 21, Morning continued to sporadically be active throughout the rest of the summer, although erupting days apart, making it extremely difficult to catch. I myself missed morning by about a day last year, but I'll be darned if I miss it again this summer. After the summer crowds and geyser enthusiasts trickled out of the park, Morning's activity remained relatively a mystery throughout the late fall and early winter. 

However, we did have two huge advantages. The first was the wonderful and gracious observations of tour guides running snow tours past Morning during the winter. They would look for tell-tale signs of Morning's activity for us; checking to see if runoff channels were free of snow (the warm water from the geyser would melt the snow filling the channels) and observing if Fountain Geyser (the much more frequent geyser that resides in the crater in front of Morning) was throwing out more rocks than usual or behaving differently (they are indirectly connected). The second advantage was the presence of an electronic data monitor at Fountain, which picked up many Fountain Geyser abnormally long duration eruptions. usually these eruptions mean that Morning erupted during the event, although it's not certain at all. But we now are at least near certain that Morning was active throughout the winter of 2012-13. 

Morning's runoff channel melted free of snow on 1/29/13. Photo curtsey of Yellowstone Tour Guides

 Finally, after several months of uncertainty Yellowstone Tour Guides photographed an eruption on March 8, and then there was even second eruption 5 hours later! Morning was alive! The anticipation was excruciating leading up to the park's official opening in late April. Finally the gates opened and a gazer that is well known for studying the group of geysers that Morning's a part of began to observe that area daily. Then, on May 3, 2013, she witnessed a spectacular event as Morning and Fountain Geysers erupted together for almost a half hour, an event which had only happened probably only once before in this current eruptive phase. 

 

After this awesome event, Morning erupted 2 days later on the 5th of May, and then yet again on the 6th. Since then there have been at least 5 events, you can see the latest activity of Morning here. As of this writing, Morning's last eruption was on the morning of May 25, 2013 at 0557 in the morning. There is speculation that Morning could be starting to begin a new extremely active period of activity similar to that of it's activity in 1994, where it erupted like clockwork almost every 3-6 hours. One can only hope!

I forgot to mention one thing. Morning's name. Morning is one of those geysers that hates wind, if there's a lot of wind, Morning (usually) won't erupt. At Morning's location, the wind intensifies most during the afternoon, so the majority of its eruptions take place during the Morning, hence the name!

May, Volcano Awareness Month

Last year, Governor Gregoire of Washington declared May to be "Volcano Awareness Month" in Washington State, a decision which, although relatively unknown, is a wise one. Washington hosts five major Volcanoes, 4 of which are well known. From North to South there are Mount Baker, Glacier Peak, Mount Rainier, Mount Saint Helens, and Mount Adams. Of these five, the most recognizable in the state and the most well known as a volcano, is of course, Mount Saint Helens.

The 18th of this month marked the 33rd anniversary of the most cataclysmic volcanic eruption in the United States, Mount Saint Helen's in 1980. 57 people died as a two month build up in activity culminated in a titanic eruption that razed 230 square miles of timber to the ground, sent massive lahars (mudflows) churning down the surrounding valleys, and dropped ash as far east as Oklahoma. Since then the volcano has been modestly quiet, with a smaller eruptive period from 2004-2008, but I don't have a shadow of a doubt in my mind that we will see Mount Saint Helens reawake again in our lifetimes, perhaps even more violently than May 18, 1980.

Mount Saint Helens erupts on May 18, 1980

But it is exceedingly important that we remember that Mount Saint Helens is not the only, or even the most dangerous volcano on our doorstep. 60 miles southeast of the Seattle-Tacoma metropolitan area, there is a sleeping giant almost 6,000 feet higher than it's southern fitful neighbor. Mount Rainier looms over the Puget Sound region, looking peaceful enough from that angle, with it's well rounded silhouette sitting backdrop to the Emerald City. But Mount Rainier is a decade volcano, considered to be the most dangerous in the United States. And it's not for reasons that many people think. Mount Rainier is a relatively gentle volcano in terms of volcanism itself. It does not produce (or at least, very rarely) the massive explosions and churning ashclouds of St. Helens. No, Mount Rainier's deadliest threat may not even need to be triggered by volcanic activity, but rather, it can simply give in to the relentless pull of gravity itself.

Mount Rainier has, can, and probably will produce massive avalanches, Some of which have swept across areas populated by some 200,000+ people and then into Puget Sound. These avalanches are the result of rock being weakened by acidic water circulating in the volcanic cone, and then simply losing their structure and collapsing. If one of these mudflow events happened today, the results would probably be catastrophic.

Aside from Mount Rainier and St. Helen's major threats to the region. There are three other volcanoes that still have the potential to create their own hazards. Baker, Glacier Peak, and Adams. I will not outline the hazards now, since that would take too much time. But this is where Volcano Awareness Month comes in. It is our job, as people living under the threat of these fire mountains, to teach ourselves how we can cope with and prepare for a volcanic eruption in our state. The more people are prepared, the faster we can get ourselves out of the danger zone and adequately protect ourselves in the event of a volcanic unrest.

I know you've heard it all before, Prepare, stock up food, get evacuation plans ready, but I urge you, this month, when you have a few minutes. Ask yourself, if you're travelling on I-5 and Mount Rainier erupts or suffers from a avalanche that turns into a mudflow, where do you go? If a sudden shift in prevailing winds carries the ash column from Mount Saint Helens over the sound area, what do you do to protect yourself from the fallout? If you happen to be in a river valley around a volcano, and activity begins, how do you escape? Think about these things, be prepared, because I believe adamantly that in our lifetime we will see some degree of volcanic activity again in our state. We just have to be ready.