Artesia is a perpetual geyser that never stops ejecting water from at least one of its two vents, usually no more than 5 ft (1.5 m). One vent is angled toward the boardwalk that passes the geyser and the other is angled toward Firehole Lake.[2]
During a period in 1999, one of the vents jetted to a distance of 12 ft (3.7 m) while the other emitted only steam.[2]
In 2012, Artesia was having prominent, vertical eruptions about once a minute, with minimal activity between. From 2014 to 2017, it was a low perpetual spouter only. In summer 2018, Artesia resumed having prominent eruptions once a minute, with column heights reaching four to five meters high.