[Geysers] February Sput (Stephens) [long]

[Ralph Taylor]

Pat Snyder asked some good questions about data taking, watching geysers,
and geyser research.  I've done a bit of all of these over the years, and
while I am not the ultimate authority, here are some thoughts:

>Any suggestions for the following would be really helpful:
> 1. Tips for collecting data-- for example, I noticed that in some 
>    Gazers' data books, they have abbreviations, which makes it easier 
>    and quicker to write down times. I think things happen quickly at the 
>    Silver Globes (from my unofficial observations) as the functions 
>    change between each one.

> 2. How long should I stay to get a good picture of what's going on  
>    there? I am not sure I can dedicate an entire day--Lynn, you say "a  
>    few hours". would three hours be about right? Less? More?

> 3. Should I watch nearby geysers, too, such as Jewel? Or just  
>    concentrate on the ones I am writing about? There's a nice view of  
>    the Old Road Group from there, I do plan to bring my binoculars!

> 4. Anything else? I do plan to have a couple of seasoned Gazers read  
>    through the article before publication.

Gazers use a variety of notations.  Most of us have learned from others, but
we all personalize our notation to record what we find useful and easy to
remember.  There are a number of abbreviations in common use that are also
used in the OFVC logbook.  Many of them appear on this list frequently, such
as "i.e." for "in eruption", meaning that the time noted was recorded during
an eruption, and does not denote the actual start.  "ns" is also frequently
used, (some might say overused) to mean "near start".  This might be used,
for example, if an observer had a geyser under observation but looked away
or was distracted and when the geyser was once again seen it was in
eruption.  

Many observers keep time to the minute, as we do in the OFVC log, but the
recorded time is truncated, not rounded.  That is, the time recorded for a
geyser start is the minute during which the start occurs.  For instance, if
you see Beehive start at 12:12:58 the time would be recorded as 12:12, not
12:13.  We also use 24-hour time to avoid mistakes (for many of us there are
two eight o'clocks in a day) and to make arithmetic a bit easier.

I spent a lot of time watching geysers like Anemone, Plume, and Jewel, which
have short intervals and durations.  For these, it makes more sense to
record times to the nearest second since the times being measured are so
short.  

But if you decide to watch Silver Globe and its associated vents, there is
no established notation.  There are numerous erupting vents (as I recall,
there are five associated with Silver Globe Geyser itself (on the south side
of the current boardwalk, not to be confused with Silver Globe on the left
adjacent to Avoca Spring) and also Silver Globe Slit geyser.  When I watched
it (and when I watched other geysers with no descriptions of activity
available to me) I spent several hours just watching the activity to figure
out what I was seeing.  I found it useful to take some data, but be prepared
to discard it, since the main point of the initial observation is to see for
yourself what the geyser is doing and to figure out what are the main events
that you think are of interest.

As to how long it takes, it depends on the geyser.  It has always taken me
several hours to get a feeling for what is going on with an unfamiliar
geyser, and to get a notion of what I should be watching.  I'd recommend
spending at least two hours getting to know the activity, and then you will
have a pretty good idea of what to look for.  My recollection is that the
whole cycle of activity is on the order of an hour or more.  I'd think that
a minimum of two or three complete cycles would be needed to get enough
material for a short article, and if you can manage it, perhaps half a day
each on two or three days.  You don't really know how a geyser's activity
varies over time without watching it for long enough to get familiar with
the activity.

For some geysers with short intervals (Jewel and Anemone come to mind) an
hour or so of data gives a pretty accurate picture of what is going on.  For
a geyser like Fountain, with four to six hour intervals, you would need many
days of data to get an accurate picture of the activity.  

With the Silver Globe area there are a lot of vents to watch and you begin
to notice things like water levels, surging, unseen but audible boiling (you
can't see all of the activity under the rim of the Cave from the boardwalk,
as I recall).  

When I was studying Jewel Geyser, not far away at all, I found that if I was
paying attention to Jewel I could also watch Mustard Spring since it was in
my line of sight but couldn't record activity of Silver Globe Slit because
it was not.  I would be surprised if you could watch all the goings on in
the Silver Globe area and still get all of Jewel's eruptions just because
you have to look away from Silver Globe to see Jewel, and if you are looking
away, something important is sure to happen in the area you had set out to
watch (don't ask me how I know this).

This has turned out to be too long a treatise, but let me make one more
point.  I spent a fair bit of time watching Jewel Geyser, and also visit
Biscuit Basin weekly doing my cleaning rounds.  Visitors are frequent and
curious.  For many it is the first stop in the Old Faithful area, and I
never spend much time there without having several conversations with
visitors (which I always enjoy).  Ok, almost always.  Well, sometimes.
Anyway, you may have to ask people to wait a minute while you make notes or
jot down a time.