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Activity Recorded by Data Logger - by Ralph Taylor |
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Introduction |
Little Squirt has been monitored electronically since 2003. I chose to monitor Little Squirt because it was the easiest way to record the peak water levels on the south side of Geyser Hill, the so-called "SMax". The sensor is actually in the pool of the geyser, so there is no doubt about the presence or absence of an eruption. I have not created software to determine the eruption durations, although the temperature record has enough information to do so.
The electronic record has three gaps, from 7 Feb to 24 June 2003, from 25 October to 19 December 2005, and from 15 February 2006 to 25 March 2006. All of the gaps were caused by logger failures.
During September 2009 there was a temporary shortage of data loggers, and the loggers from Dome and Little Squirt Geysers were removed for use on another project. During this time visual observations were used to fill in the data set.
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The logger trace (shown to the right) reveals that Little Squirt typically has a long duration eruptive period, usually around one day, followed by several hours of intermittent activity before all activity ends.
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Activity in 2011 |
The overall statistics for 2011 are shown at Little Squirt 2011 Statistics.
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The graph of intervals for 2011 is shown at the right.
The orange triangles show the first eruption of each recorded Dome Geyser series. Activity in Dome geyser is also known to affect some other features on Geyser Hill.
Eruptions of Giantess Geyser also affect many features on Geyser Hill. Giantess Geyser eruptions are noted by a yellow triangle.
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The next graph shows the activity for the three months prior to the last download.
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The interval histogram shows the distribution of Little Squirt's intervals. The blue bars are all of the intervals for the year to date. The maroon bars are the activity in the month before the last download, and the yellow bars are the intervals for the week before the last download.
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Activity since 2002 |
The graph at the right shows all of the electronically recorded intervals since 2002. In 2002 and early 2003 eruptions were occurring about every five days, albeit with a few as short as 3.5 days and a few much longer intervals. When the failed logger was replaced in June 2003, eruptions were more frequent, averaging around three days and typically ranging from two to four days apart. In late summer of 2005 intervals began to lengthen, then returned to the three day region but with more extremes evident. 2006 started with intervals in the one to three day range. The intervals below two days were actually a sort of extended series eruption. In April 2006 the intervals rose to about a week by mid-year, then declined to the 4-5 day range late in 2006 with some intervals as short as 12 hours.
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During the summer of 2007 intervals lengthened greatly, peaking at nearly 48 days in August. In September 2007 Little Squirt's intervals dropped to about a week, and by mid-November intervals settled at 3-4 days.
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Activity in 2010
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Activity in 2009
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Activity in 2008
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Activity in 2007
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Activity in 2006
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Activity in 2005
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