NASA's plan of drilling "Super Volcano" which may cause the world's end, to cool and save the earth

ByAarthi Narayanan

America'sYellowstone National ParkThere is a huge volcano "Super Volcano" which has the power enough to change the whole earth. Super Volcano will cause global environmental change and mass extinction in the near futureCatastrophic eruptionIt is said that it will cause the BBC to say that NASA plans to cool the volcano for thousands of years, tens of thousands of years in order to prevent Super Volcano eruption and save the earth.

BBC - Future - Nasa's ambitious plan to save Earth from a supervolcano
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20170817-nasas-ambitious-plan-to-save-earth-from-a-supervolcano?ocid=global_future_rss

Super volcano is not in the form of so-called "volcano", but sleeps in the bottom of the caldera section.

ByMohnishkodnani

In the United States in 1980St. Helens Volcano erupted57 people were killed or missing, 200 houses, 43 bridges, over 300 km on the road, over 25 km on the railroad were destroyed, but the power when Super Volcano erupted over 210 million years ago was St Helens It is said that it was 25,000 times the volcanic eruption.

CNN.co.jp: Ultra Giant Volcano Sleeping in the Earth "Super Volcano", the Potential to Scare the Earth - (1/3)
https://www.cnn.co.jp/travel/35021192.html

If the super volcano erupts, a large earthquake will hit the area around and Yellowstone National Park will completely disappear due to the subsequent extra-large eruption. It instantaneously gives out a lot of dead as well as causing the empty stool by volcanic ash, suggesting the possibility of a global food crisis.

Engaged in research and development and operation of NASAJet Propulsion Laboratory"JPR's Brian Wilcox has reached the conclusion that the threat of super volcano eruptions is greater than the collision of asteroids and comet stars", and in order to prevent such an unprecedented situation,Magma chamberWe will drill down to the volcano and proceed with the plan. "

Since magma can not eruke unless it is sufficiently melted, if it is cooled and solidified, it will not move rapidly. According to JPL's report, if 35% of magma is cooled, super volcano can be prevented from erupting. So, how do you cool down? One way to think of it is to increase the amount of water in the super volcano. However, it is difficult to obtain the consent of politicians because the method of "making a huge canal in the mountains" is impossible to realize.

Another way to think about this is to excavate up to 10 km underground by Super Volcano and pump down at high pressure. At this time, water is circulated, and the recovered water drops in temperature to 350 degrees. It plans to lower the temperature of the volcano every day by applying water at high pressure many times. The budget required for this plan is said to be about 3.4 billion dollars (about 380 billion yen), and it is considered possible to persuade politicians. The amount of 3.46 billion dollars is 0.6% of the annual budget of the US military.

ByBrian Bernas

Also, as Icelandic scientists are doing, it may be possible to create geothermal energy from the volcano. If we can extract the geothermal energy from the volcano, of course initial investment is necessary, but there is also the view that it is possible to supply energy to the surrounding area for tens of thousands of years, and the investment can be restored .

However, drilling the upper part of the magma reservoir and cooling it also entails danger. It may be possible to put the upper part of the magma reservoir in an unstable state by the operation, and it is possible that the volatile gas which is harmful to the human body at the top of the magma reservoir may be jetted out. Therefore, it is considered to start drilling from the outside of Yellowstone National Park and cool it from the bottom side of the magma reservoir.

In any case, it is expected that it will take tens of thousands of years to turn magma into a complete solid by these cooling methods. Of course, there is no need to make it a perfect solid if only to eliminate the threat of the eruption, but there is still no proof that work will be successful in hundreds or thousands of years.

The eruption of Yellowstone has occurred in about 600,000 years, and now it is about 600,000 years since the last eruption. Cooling work is large and it does not result quickly, but Wilcox says it is a problem to be addressed in the early days.