Baby Daisy Geyser is located in the Old Road Group of the Upper Geyser Basin north of Artemisia Geyser and Gem Pool. The geyser is visible in a clearing from the trail from Artemisia to Biscuit Basinin. Baby Daisy has had only sporadic activity, with few active periods separated by many years. George Marler first noted Baby Daisy as a geyser in 1952, and noted that "It has a function, which on a smaller scale, is an almost exact replica of the Daisy." Marler was referring to the character of the eruptions, which are inclined at about the same angle as Daisy Geyser's eruptions (about 30 degrees from vertical), but only reach about 6 to 7.5 meters (20 to 25 feet) in height. During the 1952 activity intervals were 90 to 120 minutes.
Baby Daisy became active briefly following the 1959 Hebgen Lake quake, this time with intervals of 90 to 96 minutes.
The most recent activity occurred from February 2003 to December 2004. The first reported sighting was at 1030 ie on 20 February 2003 by two Park Rangers. Examination of the area convinced observers that Baby Daisy had been active for at least several days. Subsequent discussions found observations as early as 14 February. Activity was noted almost daily from the road. Observed durations were between two and three minutes, reported intervals were 33 to 39 minutes.
The activity continued from about 14 February 2003 until 0950 on 8 December 2004 when activity abruptly ceased. No eruptions have been reported since that time. |
What to look for:
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| When Baby Daisy Geyser is active, it is often sighted from the road. It is most easily seen heading south from Biscuit Basin to the turnout for the Daisy Geyser trail. Look for an angled eruption directed toward Biscuit Basin. From the trail from Biscuit Basin to Artemisia Geyser, Baby Daisy Geyser can be seen from the trail past a grove of trees near a point where a small drainage crosses the trail. If Baby Daisy remains dormant, it is difficult to see the crater from the trail. |
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| Activity Recorded by Data Logger - by Ralph Taylor |
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| Introduction |
In the late spring of 2003 we placed a data logger on Baby Daisy Geyser. The record of the activity is continuous from 22 June 2003 to the end of the activity on 8 December 2004. We left the logger in place until the spring of 2005 but no further activity was recorded.
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The graph at the right shows the intervals for the active period. From the time the logger was initially deployed until the end of activity the range of intervals remained rather wide, from 0h18m to 1h45m in 2003 and 0h20m to 1h49m in 2004. The interval graph suggests a rising trend from the start of the data to the end in December 2004.
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The trend in activity is shown more clearly in the moving median graph at right. Two abrupt changes, one drop in intervals in mid-August of 2003 and a similarly abrupt rise in intervals in early November 2004, are evident.
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The third graph shows how the minimum, average (both mean and median) and maximum monthly interval values changed during the active period. All of the measures show a gradual increase in intervals over the active span.
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| Activity since 2003 |
The next four graphs show the intervals in more detail. Throughout the active period the character of the eruptions and the variation in intervals kept generally to the same pattern. Long and short intervals were intermixed, not strictly alternating but not occurring in clusters of short or long intervals either.
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The expanded time scale graph of the final week of activity does not hint at the impending cessation of eruptions. In fact, after the sudden jump in intervals around 1 November 2004, the activity remained more or less constant until the final week when intervals dropped through the week, apparently indicative of an increase in activity, until the activity stopped with no warning.
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The next two graphs are histograms of the distribution of intervals for 2003 and 2004. In both years the general shape of the distribution suggests a normal distribution. There are a few unexplained oddities in the distribution, namely the notches in the distribution between 0h55m and 0h56m, between 1h04m and 1h05m, and between 1h12m and 1h13m. Indeed in 2004 there were zero intervals of 56 minutes, and in 2003 only 32 56-minute intervals for the whole year. The first "forbidden interval" did not have more intervals of one minute greater or one minute less, but the second and third notches follow a one-minute interval range with noticeably more occurrences than the overall shape of the distribution would suggest.
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I can offer no explanation for these anomalies. I have not seen any similarly sharp discontinuities in other geysers that I have monitored.
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