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NASA's Plan To Stop A Supervolcano from Destroying The Earth's Climate (news.com.au)
Long-time walterbyrd shared a new article about NASA's contingency plan for "vast quantities of searing magma and clouds of fumes" erupting from a Wyoming supervolcano and slowly "burying much of the United States under a thick coat of ash and lava...enough to change the climate of the world for several centuries."
NASA believes the Yellowstone supervolcano is a greater threat to life on Earth than any asteroid. So it's come up with a plan to defuse its explosive potential... NASA scientists propose, a 10km [6.2 miles] deep hole into the hydrothermal water below and to the sides of the magma chamber. These fluids, which form Yellowstone's famous heat pools and geysers, already drain some 60-70 per cent of the heat from the magma chamber below. NASA proposes that, in an emergency, this enormous body of heated water can be injected with cooler water, extracting yet more heat. This could prevent the super volcano's magma from reaching the temperature at which it would erupt.
A member of NASA's Advisory Council on Planetary Defense told the BBC he'd concluded "the super volcano threat is substantially greater than the asteroid or comet threat."
A member of NASA's Advisory Council on Planetary Defense told the BBC he'd concluded "the super volcano threat is substantially greater than the asteroid or comet threat."
NASA's proposed solution may very well trigger the damned thing.
<SARCASM>
Let it blow, and have the nuclear winter effect cancel out global warming!
</SARCASM>
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
then why not tap it for hydrothermal energy to generate electricity using the heat (steam powered) turbines to turn generators, because they need the electricity to run the water pumps, and extra electricity can be put in to the grid
Geo-steam power is one of those things that looks pretty awesome, but can be tough to implement the steam produced is pretty dirty. Perhaps someone coming up with a closed cycle ststem where the water never touches the hot rocks might work.
That being said, messing with YellowStone would have to be approached with great caution. As in old risk-taker me wouldn't touch it.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
I am a little confused here (actually, have been for some time). By the way, this is totally apart from the argument of whether this is a good idea or not - I express no opinion there. But I was under the impression that NASA stood for the "National Aeronautics and Space Administration." So I find all this research and involvement in climate issues and trying to defuse volcanoes rather puzzling: how exactly does that help with aeronautics and space? How does that fit in with NASA's purpose? (Sure, if the Earth is destroyed you won't see any space exploration. You won't see any taxation, either, but unless I'm missing something I have not heard reports of the IRS's anti-pollution initiatives.)
TANSTAAFL
As can be seen from this list, Yellowstone is only one of many, and has been relatively quiet, unlike Tambora and Taupo which have both gone up comparatively recently.
Protoplasm. Quiet Protoplasm. I like quiet protoplasm.
Keystone = expansion of co2-emitting fossil fuel infrastructure = brain-dead (or clinically insane, hard to tell which) policy in the 21st century.
Deep geothermal power = avoided fossil fuel consumption and emissions. So most fossil-fuel expansion protesters will be fine with it.
These people who get "triggered" by fossil fuel capacity expansion projects are mostly triggered by the overwhelming stupidity and willful destructiveness of the projects. The maniacs (those continuing to scale up fossil fuel infrastructure) need to be stopped. If you don't believe me, come back and tell me what you think in 25 years, when you're getting most of your food from the mid-west (of Canada).
Where are we going and why are we in a handbasket?