  This study aims to evaluate the accuracy of predicted eruption times of
popular geysers in the Yellowstone National Park. The Yellowstone National Park
was the first national park in the United States and is known for its
geothermal features consisting of many highly popular geysers such as the Old
Faithful. Geysers are fascinating to national park visitors because their
eruptions could range from small bubbles to jets of water that are hundreds of
meters high, and their eruptions could last from seconds to hours. To help
tourists plan their visits, the US National Park Service and other independent
groups publish predicted eruption times of popular geysers. We hypothesized
that the models developed by the US National Park Service are very accurate
with little discrepancy from independent analysis, as park rangers monitor the
geysers constantly and likely adjust their models over time according to
changing conditions underground, and patterns observed. In addition, since
researchers in the park likely rely on these predictions, the models would need
to be fine-tuned to ensure that no unnecessary effort or resources are wasted
in probing the geysers for variables such as temperature and acidity. In this
study, we focused on the Old Faithful and Beehive Geyser by downloading actual
eruption times, conducting statistical regression analyses, studying the
patterns of eruption times, and evaluating the accuracy of different
statistical models.
