I was flipping through channels and saw a bit about Krackatoa (?) and that it released so much SO2 in the atmospere it caused Europe and Eastern America to have unusually cold weather for a year or two. (1816-year there was no summer). Yellowstone is larger (I think) and is due/overdue to erupt. I would like to know any other or better detailed information and also, would an explosion that large counteract the effects of GW?
2007-11-28 16:14:53 · 7 answers · asked by strpenta 7 in Environment ➔ Global Warming
I live "near" Yellowstone. About 175 miles as the crow flies.
This puts me well within the blast zone, where there would be no survivors.
If Yellowstone were to have a full blown eruption it would cause world-wide devistation. That is correct that the ash cloud would be so thick it would cool the world for many years, by not allowing sunlight to penitrate.
This would affect the entire world. Croplands all over the world would fail most spectacuarly. I would not be at all suprised to see 50% of the people in the world (not just U.S.A.) die of starvation, as their was crop failure, after crop failure.
"Due to erupt," remember, volcanos run on geological time, not man's time. Yellowstone is showing no signs of waking up anytime in the near future. Volcanos almost always give several weeks, if not several months of warning, before they erupt.
If one of the mega volcanos, like Yellowstone, or Krakatoa go off, it will have devistating world-wide effects. TEOTWAWKI...The End Of The World As We Know It. Never before in the history of man-kind have there been so many humans on the face of the earth. A full-blown eruption would kill billions of people.
Quiet frankly, I'm a little worried about Krakatoa (but not Yellowstone). After all, Krakatoa is centered in the area near Indnesia where they keep having all the huge earthquakes, and tsumamis. Right now that area of the world is geologically "awake." Krakatoa is the one to keep you eye on.
~Garnet
Who lived through Mt. St. Helens in 1980 (I lived in Washington State).
2007-11-29 00:14:43 · answer #1 · answered by Bohemian_Garnet_Permaculturalist 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I've seen that show you're talking about. I think it was on the History Channel, called Mega Disasters.
From what I remember, they think if Yellowstone erupted, it would send so much ash up into the atmosphere that it would block out a lot of the sunlight, causing the planet to cool dramatically! Once all the ash cleared after several years, though, all the extra CO2 in the atmosphere would warm the planet.
Yea, it's supposed to erupt every 600,000 years or so, and we're about due! I hope it doesn't blow before I take a vacation out west next summer!
2007-11-28 17:57:43 · answer #2 · answered by qu1ck80 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
If Yellowstone erupts it will be a global catastrophe. There was a show on the Science Channel showing the effects. They stated the magma chamber was the size of New York City. Their consensus is that is would be a Global Extinction Event.
2007-11-28 17:16:00 · answer #3 · answered by John J 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
You might say that there are 3 main sources of CO2.
1 Decay,and burning of plants and trees.[including cow farts]
2 Burning of fossil fuels
3 Volcanic activity
We have control over only one of those sources.
2007-11-28 17:40:53 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Volcanoes can cool the Earth a bit for a short time. But they're no match for man made global warming.
This graph shows you the relative importance of various things to climate:
http://www.globalwarmingart.com/wiki/Image:Climate_Change_Attribution.png
2007-11-28 17:37:48 · answer #5 · answered by Bob 7 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Good Question!
2007-11-28 16:25:00 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
That would be cool, never heard of that before!
2007-11-28 16:22:29 · answer #7 · answered by Abungaboo 1 · 1⤊ 1⤋