Daisy is a cone-type geyser. Its interval has become relatively erratic in the last few years and can range from about 120 to over 200 minutes, its height is 60-75 feet and its duration is 3-4 minutes. Though its interval can be erratic, over short periods of times (as long as a few days) it can still be quite predictable. For most of the 1990's though it was very predictable. The exception to this rule was when nearby Splendid Geyser was active. When Splendid is active there is a complex interplay between Splendid and Daisy. Sometimes Daisy will erupt alone, sometimes Splendid will erupt alone and sometimes both will erupt together. These concerted eruptions are spectacular. During some concerted eruptions, Splendid and Daisy seem to feed off of each other. In these eruptions, Splendid can reach over 150 feet (218 feet was measured once) and Daisy can reach over 100 feet. It is truly amazing to see such large eruptions within 200 feet of each other. Unfortunately, concerted eruptions are rare. 1985-1987 saw a number of concerted eruptions but then Splendid went nearly dormant until 1996. For the first time in a decade, 1997 saw concerted eruptions. Unfortunately, this activity stopped in early 1998. |
What to look for:
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When Daisy Geyser is regular you can usually predict the eruptions very accurately using the current average interval and the time of the last eruption. This is how the Rangers predict its eruptions.
But, what happens if you don't know when Daisy last erupted or what its current interval is? Well, there are a couple of things you can look for.
First, don't confuse the locations of Daisy and Comet Geysers. Comet is a nearly constantly active small geyser with a large half cone located in the center of the Daisy Group. Daisy is located closer towards the hill you walked up to get to the Daisy Group. It too is surrounded about halfway by a sinter rim but this rim is shorter than Comet's. On Daisy's rim are located two small cones. Each of these is a small geyser. The smaller of the two cones starts erupting about 20-40 minutes before Daisy. The larger of the two cones starts erupting about 15-20 minutes before Daisy.
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| Activity Recorded by Data Logger - by Ralph Taylor |
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| Introduction |
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Daisy Geyser has been monitored electronically since 1998. Data from 1998 and 1999 is sparse, but since the spring of 2000 the record is nearly complete.
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| Activity in 2011 |
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The overall statistics for 2011 are shown at Daisy Geyser 2011 Statistical Summary.
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The interval graph shows all of the intervals for 2011. The graphs for the current year are updated about every six weeks from October to June and weekly from June to the end of September.
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The next graph shows the intervals for the past few months at an expanded time scale.
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The third graph shows the activity for the month preceding the last download.
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The interval distribution graph at the right shows that the range of intervals from 2h35m to 3h00m contains more intervals than any other category and that the "long mode" of intervals over 3 hours is very small, representing only occasional long intervals. Note that in this and the other histograms displayed here the labels shown on the X-axis represent the upper boundary of the class, not the midpoint. Geyser times are traditionally truncated. The graph at the right has class widths of 10 minutes. The bar appearing above the label "2:50," for example, contains intervals from 2h41m through 2h50m.
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The year to date statistics are summarized in the graph at the right.
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The prediction results histogram shows the recent results. Note that more than 95% of the eruptions are inside of the window despite the occasional long interval.
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| Activity since 1997 |
Daisy's activity gradually slowed (i.e., intervals have grown longer) from 2000 to late 2007, when the trend reversed and intervals declined and became less varied in 2008 and 2009.
Note that the short intervals have increased until 2001, then remained near 2h00m until mid-2003, at which time the minimum intervals have varied seasonally from 2h00m to 2h30m with the longer intervals occurring in winter and shorter intervals occurring in the summertime.
Note also that the long intervals, which were rare and generally less than six hours from 2000 to 2004, were both more frequent and longer in 2005-7, and then disappeared until early 2009. There have been several intervals longer than 12 hours since December of 2004.
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One noteworthy occurrence was the sharp drop in intervals on 2 November 2002 (notable on the interval graph but even more clear on the moving median graph). The short intervals began exactly at the time of the Denali earthquake--the earthquake occurred during the first short interval. It is believed that the sudden drop in intervals was caused by either the Denali quake directly or indirectly by local quakes induced by the Denali quake.
Note that the intervals gradually returned to the long-term trend following the quake. In the later months of every year since 2002 intervals have increased markedly from those of the summer months. The intervals have typically dropped in the first half of each year.
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The graph at the right shows the minimum, mean, median, and maximum intervals for each month for which we have data. Note the gradual increase in the monthly maximum intervals, especially in the winter months. The low minimum value for November 2002 is the result of the 2 November Denali earthquake. The mean interval for Daisy is slowly increased from 1998 to January 2007, and since then dropped a full hour to mid 2008, then rose as the winter lengthening of intervals once again occurred.
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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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