The supervolcano needs only 35 percent heat reduction to avoid a world catastrophe.
Deep below the scenic beauty of Yellowstone National Park, in the tri-junction area of the states of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho lays a monstrous volcano, subdued by an enormous explosion some 600,000 years ago.
According to a leaked NASA report, the space agency fears a distant future catastrophe, far greater than an asteroid impact, if the molten magma breaks through the fissures. But it seems like they have devised a plan before the worst happens.
It has been found that our earth has 20 super volcanos, and if any one of these erupts, it could spit out tonnes of ash that could blindfold the earth from the sun, causing years of volcanic winter.
Brian Wilcox, who is a member of NASA’s Advisory Council on Planetary Defence, said to BBC that the threat caused by asteroids is far less than the one caused by a supervolcanic eruption.
Wilcox, who works at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told the BBC, “I came to the conclusion during that study that the supervolcano threat is substantially greater than the asteroid or comet threat.”
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In 2011, NASA released a statement saying that there is no reason to fear for an immediate explosion of the Yellowstone supervolcano as super eruptions are so rare as they occur only once in 100,000 to 1 million years.
But that said, Yellowstone, which is believed to erupt every 600,000 years, is almost due for its next eruption but chances are little of it gushing out magma during our life time.
Despite knowing that there is no immediate danger from Yellowstone, NASA’s scientists are conducting research to avoid such an apocalyptic scenario.
According to a leaked report from NASA, they are thinking of a possible way to cool the enormous magma within the Yellowstone Supervolcano before it starts to spew it out.
Scientists have found that Yellowstone supervolcano releases 60-70 percent of its heat through the hot springs into the atmosphere and the remaining heat is accumulated within its chamber and if the heat spikes up in the future the hot springs will give life to molten lava in a quantity that mankind has never ever witnessed.
But this also means that the Supervolcano needs only 35 percent heat reduction to avoid a world catastrophe. NASA is figuring out possibilities to cool down the chamber by giving it a water treatment.
The report said, it will drill 10 km deep into Yellowstone and pump high-pressure water into the molten chamber, which will absorb the temperature before being pumped out.
According to NASA, the pumped out water will have a temperature of about 350 degree Celsius and this could mean business if plans go as planned.
The heat generated from the flushed out water could be used to create a geothermal plant that is capable of generating electric power that can serve for thousands of years at a price as low as $.10/kWh.
“Through drilling in this way, it could be used to create a geothermal plant, which generates electric power at extremely competitive prices of around $0.10/kWh,” Wilcox explained to the BBC.
“[You would] get electricity which can power the surrounding area for a period of potentially tens of thousands of years. And the long-term benefit is that you prevent a future supervolcano eruption which would devastate humanity.”
But such an ambitious project doesn’t come without danger and if something goes wrong the whole of humanity will suffer.
In the worst case scenario, the drilling could result in the chamber becoming weak, resulting in the eruption far earlier than anticipated.
“If you drill into the top of the magma chamber and try and cool it from there, this would be very risky,” Wilcox said.
“This could make the cap over the magma chamber more brittle and prone to fracture. And you might trigger the release of harmful volatile gases in the magma at the top of the chamber which would otherwise not be released.”
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Despite the longer benefit of lighting up the world, the cost involved for implementation of the ambitious project will light up the eyes as NASA estimates that it will cost around $3.5 billion.
At least for the time being, NASA is not thinking of such extreme steps but when the time comes in the future this could be one of the backup plans for the space agency to save the planet.