NASA's plan to save Earth from a supervolcano

Seems like it might be prudent to first try extracting 35% of the heat from a volcano smaller than the Yellowstone Caldera. We might learn some things, and if we get it wrong the consequences don&#x27;t result in widespread starvation.<p>That said, it&#x27;s obvious that this plan is just the start of serious investigation into how we can engineer mitigations to an eruption at Yellowstone. I would be interested in seeing a model of the impact that surface-level cooling would have on the pressures deeper in the system. If we prevent an eruption now, are we making it worse in the future?<p>Other solutions I can envision might be to deliberately trigger smaller eruptions over longer timescales at the boundaries of the caldera. We could also look at large-scale mitigations for volcanic particulates in the atmosphere, including solutions that may require several hundred or thousand years of advanced preparation for success. If we could control the impact of a significant yellowstone eruption to a single hemisphere, or limit the duration to a single summer, most ecosystems would be able to recover quickly.

The Afghanistan campaign costs about 3 billion a month, so drilling a volcano for a similar amount shouldn&#x27;t break the bank. This will contribute far more to our security!

I was just in Yellowstone so much is still unknown about it and the more I read about it and saw the more afraid I became of it. At one point we saw a crater the size of a city block it was a geyser then in the 80s exploded and killed a few people. I got to thinking &quot;WTF are we doing here this thing is going to blow at any time!?&quot;

Is anyone else surprised by the excess heat number? 6GW?<p>The reactors at Chernobyl were 3.2GW thermal designs and they had four of them. I guess I would have thought a super volcano that can cause human mass extinction would be... more powerful?

I think this post does a pretty good job of addressing why the thought experiment will remain in the realm of science fiction.<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;blogs.discovermagazine.com&#x2F;rockyplanet&#x2F;2017&#x2F;08&#x2F;31&#x2F;2250904&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;blogs.discovermagazine.com&#x2F;rockyplanet&#x2F;2017&#x2F;08&#x2F;31&#x2F;225...</a>

How about we actually do something like increase the reserve food supply from more than 72 days? Yellowstone is not the only potential source of disruption to the food supply and right now if anything happens in the northern summer we are totally screwed.

Sounds like we just need to convince some high tech billionaire that they need a supervillain lair powered by geothermal energy. Maybe power a data center or something. Put that excess heat to good use :-)

The advantages may be obvious but it all comes down to unit economics. How do costs per MW compare to something like coal, hydro, wind, or solar? And let&#x27;s not forget the risk assessment that needs to be done in case the supervolcano does in fact explode, or even hiccup. Will it destroy or incapacitate the energy generating facilities?

What about radiating the heat into space?

Did anyone else hear joint venture between the boring company and tesla? Volcano powered cars!

So they need to re-drill constantly? (after each m3.)

Is there any research not on pre-emptive cooling, but about how to fast clean the atmosphere, to prevent a lasting nuclear winter, once the disaster happend?

If global warming decreases heat transportation to the surface, wouldnt the atmosphere and the volcanos form a self-regulating plant?

BBC.com as of late has been turning into Clickbait.com

Unfortunately, any project to drain the supervolcano&#x27;s energy will meet with immense resistance from various groups of humans with limited intelligence who don&#x27;t realize its power and the extinction-level destruction its explosion will cause. The article lists at least two ways of safely extracting the supervolcano&#x27;s power without risking the triggering of an explosion, but this won&#x27;t be enough to convince the idiotic naysayers. By harnessing its energy, we can have clean energy for millennia.

This just looks like an attempt to get geothermal energy from Yellowstone. The 6GW power getting out of the ground now is really nothing compared to the energy that&#x27;s down there. Thermal conduction and fluid transport are what allows the energy to the surface. Adding geo-thermal power generation would increase energy dissipated but would do little to actually change the geologic situation.<p>I suspect if you asked power companies if they&#x27;d go for it they would jump at the opportunity, but TFA jumps the gun and suggests that the government may need to offer incentives to get started.<p>In short: Let&#x27;s use peoples fear of global calamity to get them to allow drilling and building in a national park and get free money from the government too.

The other problem not mentioned: Yellowstone is the middle of fricken nowhere.<p>Electricity is hard to send long distances and central planning projects have shown to be their own disasters time-and-time again through history. &quot;This time around though&quot; we have more established population centers so maybe we can pull it off? Not sure! If the power could be produced cheap enough, it might pay off to maintain the massive power grid to send electricity to population centers...<p>What would truly be revolutionary is phase change electricity storage mechanism! Imagine being able to &quot;ship&quot; electricity on conventional roads, or even in existing pipelines, much the way we do with hydrocarbons.<p>Batteries charge roughly at the same rate they discharge, making electric cars a PITA. A conventional automobile can be &quot;charged up&quot; with enough potential energy in 8 mins in what takes the fastest chargers 75mins.

The idea of any group of humans &quot;saving the Earth&quot; is neighbouring on hubris. It&#x27;s fine for the plot line of a Hollywood movie, but pragmatically we can&#x27;t even engage in civil discourse anymore. Tampering with systems like plate tectonic without the ability to even predict the effects of oil shale fracking means we still have a lot to learn.<p>If the concern of the Earth being wiped out is legitimate, then focus instead on colonizing Space. The end result is the same: preserving human civilization.