The Discovery Channel aired a movie entitled "Supervolcano" which was based on actual facts.....it was EXTREMELY good and ACCURATE about what is in the future at Yellowstone National Park.
After the movie, Tom Brokaw spoke to the scientists involved at Yellowstone and they are still downplaying the imminent eruption. It is not "if an eruption is going to happen"......it is "when is the eruption going to happen".
Just as the film depicted, the US Government is not prepaired for, nor willing to admitt that a supervolcanic eruption is in our near future. It will be devasting to not only the US, but the entire world on a magnitude of the extinction of the dinosaur's astroid impact.
The question that we need to ask ourselves is "Do we wait, and do nothing at this time.....because it could conceivably be thousands of years before it erupts (at which time it will be extremely difficult to thwart)......or should we maybe spend a few billion of the dollars our government allocates for foriegn wars towards exploration of the possible venting of this huge magma chamber with the incredible tunneling machines that have been developed? Don't you think that we should at least TRY?
Dr. Robert Smith (USGS Scientist at Yellowstone) when asked "Why is the USGS not developing a system to vent the magma chamber?" said "The Congress habitually neglects funding of science projects that extend beyond their elected terms".
Call or write your congresspeople with your feelings, PLEASE!
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I saw this too, and you are misrepresenting 11.Apr.2005 00:26
sdf link
No, the eruption is not about to happen. No, do not redirect your energy here. Someones comprehension skills are POOR. An large eruption will happen again oneday maybe in 500,000 years. Should we start to prepare now?
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What? 11.Apr.2005 12:46
D. Burbeck link
I beg your pardon! The last super eruption was 640,000 years ago, the one before that was 600,000, and the one before that was 800,000. How do you figure that it will take another 500,000 years for the thing to erupt again? Perhaps you need to check the data once again. The YVO has a great website and also Dr. Robert Smith has a site that has a mountain of info on the "Giant" (as they call it). His website can be accessed through the Univ. of Utah.
SDF, it's your listening skill that is lacking. No body said that "it is about to erupt"..... but then again, it may happen any day, no one knows.
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Excellent Dramatization 11.Apr.2005 15:11
Alfred Wegener link
Seriously, Burbeck, maybe Captain Picard et al might be able to gently bleed a magma chamber with well-placed blasts of its phasers. But, it would take more than a few billion dollars to create a technology that could accomplish this task. For my money, I'd love to see such an effort - since it's only the continuation of the human species that hangs in the balance - but I doubt this is going to happen in the near future.
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Look, Mr. Wegener 11.Apr.2005 15:58
D. Burbeck link
When Kennedy stated that we would place a man on the moon, there was absolutely no technology at all available to do it. It was all invented in less than ten years with MUCH less design capabilities than what is available now.
Think of it this way.......we are now in the future of the sixties with amazing technologies.
Wouldn't it make a little more sense to spend money on the magma chamber than going to freaking Mars? It's all about priorities......oh, let's put it off and
let our grandkids deal with it.....right?
They have, right now, tunneling machines that can drill a 30 foot diameter hole and it's remote control! The chamber could be drilled by a few of these things and allowed to vent the pressure and have a small long term eruption without setting off the super eruption. If drilled from 20 miles away at a low angle so as to contact the chamber below it's center line, the top will stay in place and not be disturbed.
It's feasible right now.
Original: Supervolcano -Very Excellent Film!