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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: EveningStar

Yeah! Poke a hole in it! Worked out so well at the Gold Kimg Mine.


21 posted on 08/20/2017 9:04:52 AM PDT by bk1000 (A clear conscience is a sure sign of a poor memory)
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To: EveningStar

So, NASA believes in global warming and that it will destroy the coastlines and kill the food. But, it will attempt to remove the heat (from the core of the earth, I presume, since it will just keep heating up the caldera) and transferring it to the water?? Oceans?? The very thing that they are afraid that global warming will do??

Is this what passes for science at NASA today?


22 posted on 08/20/2017 9:05:54 AM PDT by Bryanw92 (If we had some ham, we could have ham and eggs, if we had some eggs.)
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To: EveningStar

The relative activity of underwater volcanoes in the Arctic and Antarctic may correlate with the thickness of surface ice. If there is a burst of energy seeking release from the earths core those volcanoes may be very active. If Arctic ice is really thinning then the pressure may be high and there is an increased probability that the supervolcano at Yosemite may erupt.Arctic ice thickness has very little to do with ambient air temperature.Although the thinner it gets more melting occurs as the energy of sunlight goes deeper.


23 posted on 08/20/2017 9:06:50 AM PDT by allendale (.)
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To: EveningStar

I admit I am not a Volcanologist but the issue as I understand it with these caldera volcanos is this isn’t simply heat but pressure... The magma contains insane amounts of pressurized gasses, so once a crack finally reaches the surface, all of that pressurized gas instantly has a route out and expands causing the massive explosion... It’s not simply oh lots of magma, forcing its way out, it’s the near instantaneous release of pressurized gasses wishing the magma finally having a route to escape.

Think of it like a water heater with the pressure release valve stuck shut, once the vessel fails all the pressurized steam has an escape route

I’m not sure how trying to steal the thermal energy via this method would lessen the gassious pressures in the magma.


24 posted on 08/20/2017 9:07:36 AM PDT by HamiltonJay
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To: struggle

I saw that movie about 52 years ago. I found it on DVD and it is still a good movie!

I don’t think pumping water into a volcano is a good idea. The water will flash to steam, and the pressure has no place to go.
In the book THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND, it blew when sea water was found leaking into the volcano, and I believe Krakatoa blew for the same reason.


25 posted on 08/20/2017 9:08:17 AM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar
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To: EveningStar

Well they better be dang careful. Manbearpig told us that it’s millions of degrees hot down there.


26 posted on 08/20/2017 9:08:35 AM PDT by rktman (Enlisted in the Navy in '67 to protect folks rights to strip my rights. WTH?!)
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To: EveningStar

I guess NASA has not been paying attention in Oklahoma, where wastewater injection wells have helped trigger earthquake swarms in ancient fault zones.


27 posted on 08/20/2017 9:09:50 AM PDT by dirtboy
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To: EveningStar

This just in. Headline news.

In a massive blunder of cosmic proportions NASA scientists and engineers have created a gigantic explosion at what once was Yellowstone National Park. The Yellowstone River was diverted into the magma chamber in a misguided plan to cool the sleeping volcano and the water has converted to high pressure super-heated steam. NASA boffins miscalculated the pressure relief mechanism in the caldera and without a place to go the pressure built until a massive explosion took place. Initially it was only steam but fissures have been created and magma is now cascading down to the Snake River and will soon obliterate the billionaire playground of Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

When asked to predict the outcome of the magma flow federal officials would not speculate but experts estimate that a massive lava dam will form in the Snake River Valley and that eventually much of North West Wyoming will be inundated beneath a huge lake. If lava flows northward the once pristine valleys of South West Montana will suffer a fate similar to the Snake River Plain.

Though the scientists may have prevented the huge eruption so long feared they did cause a lava flow of historic proportions with no sign of stopping.

The misguided effort by NASA was motivated by their quest for relevance and employment after the collapse of the global warming scam.


28 posted on 08/20/2017 9:10:21 AM PDT by Sequoyah101 (It feels like we have exchanged our dreams for survival. We just have a few days that don't suck.)
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To: rightwingcrazy
600 degree water is not water. It's superheated steam.

This sounds like a ridiculously stupid and dangerous idea.

29 posted on 08/20/2017 9:10:35 AM PDT by 2111USMC (Aim Small Miss Small)
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To: EveningStar
"When the water comes back out, it'll be heated to over 600 degrees..."

Of course, water vapor is a major greenhouse gas, so this isn't going to calm the fears of the global warming crowd. Also, experienced firefighter will affirm that in superhot fires (around 2,000 deg centigrade) you can't use water to extinguish the blaze because the heat will separate the hydrogen and oxygen in the water molecules. Not sure if magma gets that hot, but it could be another unexpected consequence.

30 posted on 08/20/2017 9:11:42 AM PDT by Joe 6-pack (Qui me amat, amat et canem meum.)
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To: EveningStar

“NASA’s plan is to drill a hole into the side of the volcano and pump water through it.”

When the gubmint does it, it prevents volcanoes . But when the private sector does it, it causes earthquakes.


31 posted on 08/20/2017 9:12:05 AM PDT by sagar
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To: EveningStar

Is PopSci even worth reading anymore? I gave up on it years ago.

Journalists don’t even pretend to understand what they write anymore. Just volume. They must be paid by the word.


32 posted on 08/20/2017 9:17:06 AM PDT by Sequoyah101 (It feels like we have exchanged our dreams for survival. We just have a few days that don't suck.)
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To: Sequoyah101

Bravo! That’s what could happen if you let a space agency tinker with a super-volcano!


33 posted on 08/20/2017 9:17:52 AM PDT by BradyLS (DO NOT FEED THE BEARS!)
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To: EveningStar

There is approximately 960 cubic miles of magma chamber to cool.

Keep pumping.


34 posted on 08/20/2017 9:19:15 AM PDT by Snickering Hound
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To: EveningStar

Another truly Onionesque government plan.

Think Salton Sea - with lava!


35 posted on 08/20/2017 9:21:07 AM PDT by headsonpikes (Mass murder and cannibalism are the twin sacraments of socialism - "Who-whom?"-Lenin)
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To: EveningStar

I can’t help but keep thinking how stupid this idea really is and wondering if it is not satire? Is NASA really this stupid?

I know for a fact from experience you can’t even cool down a well bore drilled deep into the earth. The heat in the crust is all but inexhaustible let alone the heat in a magma chamber. The oceans have yet to cool the mid-Atlantic ridge or the Hot Smokers of the Pacific.

Surely, they are not serious? If they are they should be fired for being stupid. Way too stupid to be of use.


36 posted on 08/20/2017 9:21:38 AM PDT by Sequoyah101 (It feels like we have exchanged our dreams for survival. We just have a few days that don't suck.)
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To: Joe 6-pack

If they can somehow 3D print titanium pipes into the magma, sealed real good, the water running would exchange the heat.


37 posted on 08/20/2017 9:22:56 AM PDT by txhurl
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To: EveningStar

I forget what do the middle two letters in NASA stand for? I thought it was Arab Status to make Islamist feel better about themselves. According to Imam Obama, peace be to him.


38 posted on 08/20/2017 9:23:42 AM PDT by morphing libertarian (Imprison, The Clintons, Holder, Obama, and Huma for starters)
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To: EveningStar
I know steam engines are a little before NASA's time but from what I recall from high school physics, injecting water into something hot increases pressure.
A lot!

39 posted on 08/20/2017 9:23:52 AM PDT by BitWielder1 (I'd rather have Unequal Wealth than Equal Poverty.)
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To: pas

“Why is NASA involved in this?”

Because we will all become unwilling astronauts when the big blast happens!


40 posted on 08/20/2017 9:26:39 AM PDT by beelzepug (Anybody I attack may rest assured it's personal!)
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