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NASA to Stop a Doomsday Supervolcano by Stealing its Heat
Popular Mechanics ^ | August 18, 2017 | Avery Thompson

Posted on 08/20/2017 8:45:36 AM PDT by EveningStar

Beneath Yellowstone National Park is a giant volcano. The heat from this volcano powers all of the park's famous geysers and hot springs, so most tourists probably don't worry about having tons of hot magma under their feet. But perhaps they should: The Yellowstone supervolcano is a disaster waiting to happen.

The supervolcano erupts about every 600,000 years, and it's been about that long since the last eruption. That means the volcano could erupt any day now, and if it does it'll send enough dust and ash into the sky to blot out the sun for years, along with blowing a 25-mile-wide crater in the western U.S. That's why a group of NASA scientists and engineers are developing a plan to prevent an eruption by stealing the volcano's heat...

NASA's plan is to drill a hole into the side of the volcano and pump water through it. When the water comes back out, it'll be heated to over 600 degrees, slowly cooling the volcano. The team hopes that given enough time, this process will take enough heat from the volcano to prevent it from ever erupting...

(Excerpt) Read more at popularmechanics.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Science; Society
KEYWORDS: caldera; doomsday; heybooboo; hubris; jellystone; nasa; stupidity; supervolcano; volcano; wyoming; yellowstone; yellowstonepark
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To: Deaf Smith

+1.


81 posted on 08/20/2017 2:26:13 PM PDT by mad_as_he$$ (Not my circus. Not my monkeys.)
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To: Balding_Eagle

#4 I think the resulting huge steam explosion might be bad : )


82 posted on 08/20/2017 2:35:52 PM PDT by minnesota_bound
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To: EveningStar

What prevents a gigantic “blow out” when the drill bit hits the magma? Sounds to me like they better talk to some oil drillers about drilling and pressure before they even begin to talk about this possibility


83 posted on 08/20/2017 3:17:28 PM PDT by wildbill (If you check behind the shower curtain for a slasher, and find one.... what's your plan?)
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To: EveningStar

It’s a new scam to get more taxpayer money.


84 posted on 08/20/2017 4:02:23 PM PDT by ViLaLuz (2 Chronicles 7:14)
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To: pas

Why is NASA involved in this?

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Percuz allah thought it would be a good idea.........


85 posted on 08/20/2017 4:29:58 PM PDT by S.O.S121.500 (Had ENOUGH Yet ? ........................ Enforce the Bill of Rights .........It is the LAW...)
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To: EveningStar

.
>> “The supervolcano erupts about every 600,000 years...” <<

This is an astoundingly foolish and ignorant statement!

There haven’t even been 600,000 years elapse since time itself was created.
.


86 posted on 08/20/2017 4:33:31 PM PDT by editor-surveyor (Freepers: Not as smart as I'd hoped they'd be)
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To: wildbill

.
A significant portion of California is still trying to recover from the environmental fiasco of PG&E’s geothermal project at Cobb Mountain.

.


87 posted on 08/20/2017 4:38:28 PM PDT by editor-surveyor (Freepers: Not as smart as I'd hoped they'd be)
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To: struggle

I can actually say I’ve seen that movie...


88 posted on 08/20/2017 6:38:10 PM PDT by CraigEsq
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To: Oldexpat
said, "They mean to frac the volcano. There going to need bigger water supply."

That is funny isn't it? Some volcano's are in the ocean and it doesn't help one bit.

Hey, they can make some really cool man made geysers

89 posted on 08/21/2017 2:42:20 AM PDT by Steve Van Doorn (*in my best Eric Cartman voice* 'I love you, guys')
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To: editor-surveyor

So you’re a YEC?


90 posted on 08/21/2017 11:37:48 AM PDT by EveningStar (I am a Non-Cultist Trump Supporter.)
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To: EveningStar

.
Most assuredly!
.


91 posted on 08/21/2017 1:43:57 PM PDT by editor-surveyor (Freepers: Not as smart as I'd hoped they'd be)
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To: rightwingcrazy

Where does the heat go?


92 posted on 08/21/2017 9:01:05 PM PDT by publius911 (Less Tweets More Golf! it works!!!)
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To: EveningStar

Maybe that $100 billion Obama spent looking for global warming could’ve been spent on this project.


93 posted on 08/21/2017 9:09:21 PM PDT by <1/1,000,000th%
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To: PIF

Not leaking steam, water heater with faulting pressure relief valve doesn’t leak steam, it basically explodes.


94 posted on 08/24/2017 9:20:22 AM PDT by HamiltonJay
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To: freedombird

Well, as long as you don’t hit the magma chamber, you could drill close by, and yes, you could in theory give the heat a place to go, but as I stated, its not the heat per se that is the reason calderas explode and leave craters 25 miles wide... its the pressurized gasses in the magma that suddenly have an scape route once a fracture to the surface occurs... simply taking heat away from the magma does nothing to lessen the insane pressures that are build up in these calderas from the pressurized gasses.

That’s the force behind the explosive nature of the caldera volcano in my understanding.. not simply the hot magma.. if it was just magma building up pressure, you could simply offer an escape route and control the magma flow... but the minute you piece the magma chamber, all of that pressurized gas will suddenly have an escape route... and KABLOOEY.... 25 mile crater and a Nuclear Winter lasting a few years.


95 posted on 08/24/2017 9:26:17 AM PDT by HamiltonJay
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To: HamiltonJay

Popping balloons is more fun, like popping pimples ... same deal just more gushing ...


96 posted on 08/24/2017 3:40:53 PM PDT by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now it is your turn ...)
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To: EveningStar

Mother erf has a boil.
Ooh, icky.


97 posted on 08/24/2017 3:47:52 PM PDT by right way right (May we remain sober over mere men, for God really is our one and only true hope.)
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