Yellowstone has erupted at least three times before: 2.1 million years ago, 1.3 million years ago, and 630,000 years ago. Geologists think we’re in the ‘right’ timeframe for another eruption. One recent study found the next supervolcano eruption could occur even within decades, with potentially catastrophic consequences for all life on Earth. It could also just as well happen in thousands of years.
Yellowstone is riddled with geophysical sensors that record temblors and other environmental changes in and around the caldera. Having even an imprecise warning system could prove to be invaluable, but research is demonstrating just how difficult predicting volcanic activity can be. We might be thousands or even hundreds of thousands of years away from an eruption. It might not happen at all. Or, it might happen in a few decades. The only way we’ll have a chance of knowing is through science.
A little Thread Necromancy today. Or a Late Hit, as they say in U.S.-style football.
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Originally posted by randye: I don't have any "concerns" Shadeball. YOU DO.
I leave the "concerns" to you lefties that perpetually hand wring and endlessly worry over any potential or imagined "disaster" that you perceive from water evaporating from your local treatment pond, to "climate change", to President Trump and every member of his family and administration, to "super volcanoes" that haven't erupted for over 3,500 years.
Maybe you should contact Brian Wilcox and the two of you can share "concerns", although my suspicion is that you will discover that Mr. Wilcox's primary "concern" is obtaining government funding to pursue his project and maintain his raison d'être and live off taxpayer money.
>>> I also suppose it never occurred to that chucklehead, or you, that he is proposing putting commercial electric generating plants inside Yellowstone National Park.
Actually, I do have a recollection of thinking to myself, when I first read these news reports, that this is an idea that could draw support from certain groups and individuals who are all about promoting the construction of Geothermal: geothermally-powered electricity plants. All about that, but pushing back against the perceived anti-social proclivities of certain, currently dormant or near-dormant volcanic formations around the world... Not So Much."
I think it is worth remarking this sentence from the second of the two news reports that I cited, from the BBC:
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[Instead] the idea is to drill in from the supervolcano from the lower sides, starting outside the boundaries of Yellowstone National Park...
[This message has been edited by rinselberg (edited 12-03-2017).]
I think I can lay off the rest of this day. Maybe even longer. When I was part of the 15th Annual California Fieros Coast Run, during the first weekend of October, there were about three weeks, if I recall it accurately, when I did not post even a single message, and I also refrained from any reading of the forum.
It would be well for me to dial myself back. Take myself down a notch. Maybe not to that extent, but an Off Topic downsizing of self, it kind of argues itself.
It would be well for me to dial myself back. Take myself down a notch. Maybe not to that extent, but an Off Topic downsizing of self, it kind of argues itself.
Do not take offense to what I said to you. I cannot help myself when someone goes after another. I pretty much always find something to say. Threepup as an example. What I think I am saying is just stop prodding members. Have your say, but stop the callouts. Threedog has never posted anything of substance, just what he dislikes about so many of us here.
So, whaddayaknow? WIRED just came out with a magazine length article on volcanos and supervolcanos, that overlaps with the Fox News report of my Original Post. The name of Brian Wilcox appears shortly after the beginning of this article. Brian Wilcox has a gig of some kind with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. He is the link between this report in WIRED and that earlier report that I put up, from Fox News.
This WIRED article is not long, as magazine articles go, although it is longer than many of the news reports and op-ed columns that I have presented to this forum over the years. It has some pretty pictures. These are what I would call the bullets:
There are more than 10 volcanos worldwide that scientists estimate could go "supervolcano" and make the S*** Hit the Fan on a global or at least a Northern or Southern hemisphere-wide scale.
The most recent supervolcano-scale eruption was about 74,000 years ago, at Mount Toba in Sumatra.
Scientists are not in agreement about the supervolcano potential of the Yellowstone Park volcano, in the northeast corner of Wyoming.
Scientists would like to have better ways of producing images of the upper structures of volcanos.
There's a brief reference to an attempt to use drilling to mitigate some of the volcano threat in Italy. It didn't go well.
Some scientists have reservations about the Brian Wilcox idea, to "chill out" Yellowstone, and some thought there were other volcanos that are better suited for an initial experiment of this kind, but none of the scientists who were interviewed for this article are reported as having called out Brian Wilcox as a "chucklehead."
This is not part of the article, but one idea that scientists have for improving their knowledge of our planet is to be able to image it from the surface, all the way down to its very center--from crust to core--using neutrinos. Neutrinos are subatomic particles and part of the prevailing Standard Model of particle physics. Scientists like to say things like "a low energy neutrino has a high probability of passing through a light-year thick lead barrier without being disturbed by any of the lead atoms along its path." A light-year thick lead barrier would be a barrier of lead that is 6 trillion miles from one side to the other.
Neutrinos are constantly arriving at the earth's surface from the Sun and from other stars and galaxies. They can also be created by scientists, using high-powered electromagnetic gadgets or something along those lines. Neutrino generators. I don't know whether scientists who are thinking about using neutrinos to image the insides of our planet are interested in using the neutrinos that occur in nature, or using man-made neutrinos, or both.
Referring to NASA-JPL's Brian Wilcox as That Chucklehead... surprising. What's not surprising? Saving money on car insurance with Geico, where 15 minutes could save you 15 percent or more on your car, boat, home, RV or motorcycle insurance.
[This message has been edited by rinselberg (edited 12-06-2017).]
You know, it occurs to me that Blackrams won't need the used oil heater if Yellowstone goes nuclear.
And he's got that shiny new snow plow which should work just as well on ash.
Also, just thinking out loud here, a pyroclastic flow moves away from a volcano at speeds up to 430 mph so even Roger is going to need a pretty good running start to avoid incineration.
You know, it occurs to me that Blackrams won't need the used oil heater if Yellowstone goes nuclear.
And he's got that shiny new snow plow which should work just as well on ash.
Also, just thinking out loud here, a pyroclastic flow moves away from a volcano at speeds up to 430 mph so even Roger is going to need a pretty good running start to avoid incineration.
NOTE: This entire post is hyperbole.
Noted. But even tho the velocity of a pyroclastic flow can be pretty high, the distance it travels is limited by physics. They average about 10 miles traveled from source, but there have been a couple instances where they continued on to distances close to 70 miles. I think Roger will be safe enough from the superheated flow, but ash fall would be a different story.
I say we build the Worlds largest Geothermal power plant over Yellowstone. That would cool the core AND give us clean energy. Less reliance on fossil fuels and helps reduce the mythical global worming threat. It's a double whammy.
I say we build the Worlds largest Geothermal power plant over Yellowstone. That would cool the core AND give us clean energy. Less reliance on fossil fuels and helps reduce the mythical global worming threat. It's a double whammy.
Build it underground, steam turbine electrical generators cranking out teramega watts of clean energy. Bury the transmission lines as well. All done without a hint of it's existence.
[This message has been edited by olejoedad (edited 12-03-2017).]
Noted. But even tho the velocity of a pyroclastic flow can be pretty high, the distance it travels is limited by physics. They average about 10 miles traveled from source, but there have been a couple instances where they continued on to distances close to 70 miles. I think Roger will be safe enough from the superheated flow, but ash fall would be a different story.
Well, see, that's a giant buzz kill, vis a vis Roger's escape plan. Seems the old SOB is impervious to ALL my nefarious plans.
But I've still got a vision of Ron plowing volcanic ash into a ditch with his hair on fire.
Originally posted by RayOtton: Well, see, that's a giant buzz kill, vis a vis Roger's escape plan. Seems the old SOB is impervious to ALL my nefarious plans.
But I've still got a vision of Ron plowing volcanic ash into a ditch with his hair on fire.
I'll have you know, my Ford 1210 snow plow is faster than Roger could ever think of pushing snow. Additionally, I'm safer snow plowing at 5 mph than most folks are at half that speed. Reference my hair on fire, I didn't realize you had watched me work. Yeah, take that.
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Originally posted by RayOtton:
But I've still got a vision of Ron plowing volcanic ash into a ditch with his hair on fire.
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Originally posted by olejoedad:
You assume Ron has hair...
Et To Brute................................
[This message has been edited by blackrams (edited 12-03-2017).]
