[Geysers] Geyser time entries

[Stephen Eide]

Hello All,
I find I agree with David.  I know of several times I have been waiting for Beehive and called Castle NS only to find the Web Cam caught it two or three minutes before I did, so it was not NS.  I was just looking in the wrong direction.  I think the question of the "most accurate" time will be with us for some time after this.  But this is an issue I think we would benefit from looking at.  
Stephen Eide

----- Original Message -----
From: "David Monteith" <dmonteit at comcast.net>
To: "Geyser Reports" <geysers at lists.wallawalla.edu>
Sent: Saturday, May 21, 2016 4:52:17 PM
Subject: [Geysers] Geyser time entries

Concerning geyser eruption times entered into Geysertimes.org, it was
recently stated:

> Entries from the basin are assumed to be more accurate and will
> override webcam data, the latter being still better than nothing.

Because of this bias, webcam times that record an earlier start time
are overridden by in-basin times that have a later start times
(obviously someone in the basin wasn't looking the correct direction
when the geyser started).  If the concern is that the webcam stream may
introduce a delay, then using a later start time doesn't make sense.
Secondly, if a recording of the webcam stream is utilized, the recorded
video can be reviewed and accuracy determined. Even in-basin observers
have asked that something be reviewed on the webcam capture in order to
verify something they saw. Lastly, the timestamp on the recordings
posted on the GOSA page https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaqzeYjrgAHI-Q
0wDN4-CuQ are accurate to within 5 seconds.  

Observational mistakes are made both on the webcam and in the basin. To
instigate an automatic bias seems unreasonable. 

One last word, it is unfortunate to characterize someone's contribution
as "the latter being still better than nothing". We should always
encourage participation and acknowledge the effort the person took to
record the observation. 

Dave



_______________________________________________
Geysers mailing list
Geysers at lists.wallawalla.edu