[Geysers] February Sput (Stephens)

[TSBryan at aol.com]

In a message dated 2/27/2006 5:10:27 PM Pacific Standard Time,  
riozafiro at comcast.net writes:
 
This all could apply to anybody, so my 2 scents:

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.
If you were sitting right there taking the data, then I wouldn't expect any  
standard abbreviations to be necessary (that is, you probably wouldn't be 
using  i.e for "in eruption," or n.s. for "near start," and etc. On the other 
hand,  there would be nothing wrong with you inventing of some kind of personal  
shorthand for use only when recording things.
     Things do happen quickly at the Silver Globes, so  recording times to 
the second would be desirable. Doing it "to the whole minute"  would likely miss 
some relationships. When I do that sort of thing, I usually  write down the 
hour only for the very first entry, then continue with  minutes:seconds.

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?
This of course depends on what is being studied. In the case of Silver  
Globe, then three hours might actually be a bit short -- to me, the control  there 
would be the frequency of Slit Geyser. Any decent study of that complex  ought 
to include several Slit eruptions, and sometimes it goes quite a while  
between eruptions.
     For another example, for something like an update  on the activity of 
Slide Geyser, three hours would probably be excessive. And  boring.

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!
Not necessary, and certainly I wouldn't look so far afield as the Old Road  
area -- unless, of course, something new (rejuvenated Baby Daisy or some such)  
was going on. I would also say that any reasonable observation of Jewel would 
 need eruption time _and_ number of bursts. And watching that could easily 
cause  you to miss something at Silver Globe.

4.  Anything else? I do plan to have a couple of seasoned Gazers read   
through the article before publication.
Remeber the modern understanding of names there, as recently discussed here  
-- Silver Globe [SG] is the blue pool below (south of) the boardwalk (it is  
simply Silver Globe, no "Spring" or "Geyser" or "Pool" in the name); Silver  
Globe Cave Geyser [C] is right below the walk to the left (east) of Silver  
Globe; Silver Globe Pair Geyser [P] is the pair of holes beyond Silver Globe;  and 
Slit Geyser [S] (Silver Globe is no longer part of its name) is beyond  Pair. 
On the other side of the boardwalk, Silver Globe Geyser [GG] is the thing  in 
the deep hole; BBG-3 [3] is to its east; Avoca Spring [A] is the elongated  
spring north of Silver Globe Geyser.
     OK, so shorthand again: as necessary, you could  probably note the 
geysers with the letters that I placed within brackets in the  above.
 
Scott Bryan
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