Snow Suppresses Seismic Signals From Steamboat Geyser

Geyser and volcano monitoring suffer from temporal, geographic, instrumental biases. We present a recording bias identified through multiyear of Steamboat in Yellowstone National Park, USA. Eruptions are the tallest any geyser world they produce broadband signals at two nearby stations Park Seismograph Network. In winter, we observe lower eruption signal amplitudes these seismometers. Instead source effect, find that environmental conditions affect recorded signals. Lower for 23–45 Hz frequencies correlated with greater snow depths station 340 m away Steamboat, calculate an energy attenuation coefficient 0.21 ± 0.01 dB per cm snow. More long-term is needed geysers to track changes over time identify biases may be missed during short, sporadic studies.