| Note: | Almost as blue as I've ever seen it in the past. The vent at the bottom is not yet clearly visible. I'm not sure if that's due to microbes still down there or just the turbidity of the water. I did see one or two very small chunks of microbe mat rising, but certainly not as much as my last visit in early July. Boiling has increased in intensity along the edge - larger bubbles consistently coming to the surface in more places, but in the time I was there, I didn't see the heavy cyclic boiling in the center - that's not to say it's not doing that, I suspect it is. I only observed occasional bubbles from the center as well as occasional upwelling. Also, the area above abyss with 4 or 5 vents has boiling water in most. I have heard there is a thought that this might also connect to Abyss. The boiling here was stronger than I've seen in many years - I think the last time I saw one vent boiling (not all) was in 2014. |
