Its Time to Cast a Worried Eye Toward Yellowstone

YOWUSA ^ | 8/22/03 | Larry Park & Marshall Masters

[Quix]

I am going to bed and up early to class.

May get to your site eventually.

I believe the common masks were effective against the ash.

The particulate respirators I believe are of an even finer mesh. That would make them even better. But I haven't checked out microns allowed through etc.

You should be able to find out from the specs.

Thanks.

It was a dramatic time--all the more so as it meant mother-in-law who was visiting had to stay longer. Thankfully, she wasn't a bad gal.

Blessings,

[A CA Guy]

Life can be a risk at times. Living near there seems a bit higher risk right now.

Maybe it is a good time to go down there and see if you can get residents to buy life insurance and make you the beneficiary.

You always have to look on the bright side of things!

[Free Vulcan]

Yes I know I'm just full of cheer and warm fuzzies on this subject, but apparently on the Volcanic Explosivity Index (at http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/vwdocs/eruption_scale.html) Yellowstone is a monster. The 3 previous Yellowstone eruptions were 2-15X as powerful as Tambora in 1815, which was nearly 10X Krakatoa, which in turn was over 20X Mount St. Helens. Tambora created a 'summerless summer' in America far south as Virginia as well as Europe in 1816. Both Tambora and Krakatoa were half a world away too, not literally in our front yard. If Yellowstone goes again at that magnitude, there's not much I am going to be able to do about it.

[Free Vulcan]

An informative link on the Yellowstone caldera.

[Justa]

"Accordingly we are also due for another ice age as well as a major impact from an object in space."

Yeah, and don't you hate it how they spread the times for these events out so you can never feel safe? I mean, why can't they just have them all at once and give us like a break for 50 million years or something?

[superloser]

I went through St. Helens in Portland, OR. We got a bit of ash out here as well, but nothing like Spokane, though it did stick around for a while. I-5 was a mess for quite a while, though.

We just used standard 3M filter masks, purchased by the 3-pack. The throwaway fiber kind that goes over your nose and mouth.

My relatives in Spokane did the same. When they ran out of those, they switched to bandanas. It worked fine for them. No need to spend a lot of money when a little will do just fine.

[dixie sass]

For your information...

[Dixielander]

Good links! Thanks!

[Dixielander]

Good point. Thanks. Probably not a bad idea to keep a bandana handy.

I was somewhat interested in the respirator masks that the American Civil Defense Association is selling (somewhere in the neighborhood of $12)for protection against bacterial agents as well as contaminates such as ash.

[Aracelis]

She's blown before and she'll blow again. The question is simply, "When?"

Star Tribune article

[rmlew]

If the Caldera under Yellowstone blows, it will be a very very very bad day.

If the Caldera under Yellowstone blows, it will be a very very very bad decade.

[Paul C. Jesup]

Is it not that data that worries me. It is the fact that the ground at Yellowstone has raised, over the past 50 years, 25 feet, causing it to partly displaced a lake.

Geologically speaking, that is a very bad thing.

[E.G.C.]

BTTT!!!!!!

[aruanan]

Whaddaya think's in "Lava Soap"?

Pumice.

[Junior]

Monica Lewinsky?

[Rebelbase]

" i think we're fine for at least our lifetimes."

Is that a Harry Truman quote?

[SauronOfMordor]

I was somewhat interested in the respirator masks that the American Civil Defense Association is selling (somewhere in the neighborhood of $12)for protection against bacterial agents as well as contaminates such as ash.

Yahoo shopping has it for $7.20 at http://shop.store.yahoo.com/reliancesales/3m82parecofl.html

[csvset]

Ah, pumice. As a child, I'd throw pumice rocks into the Smith River and watch them float away.

The pumice was fallout from the eruption of Mt. Mazama, the 12,000 foot (est.), volcano that blew up 7,000 years ago. Crater Lake was formed by the eruption.

Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park

Crater Lake National Park

[meatloaf]

From what I've read, it'll start a thousand year ice age. Looking on the positive side, we don't have to sweat global warming and a lot less folks will be drawing Social Security.

Of course the EPA is worried about the soot from diesel engines. Maybe they could spend some time figuring out what to do about Yellowstone. Maybe pass a regulation banning volcanic eruptions.

Somehow the possibility of a super volcano puts everything else in perspective.

[Taxman]

Thanks for the ping, dixie. LOL! Guess my car troubles are a blessing in disguise.