NASA’s Jet Propulsions Laboratory in California came up with a bombshell idea back in 2015 to help “save the world” from a supereruption at Yellowstone. The concept, which in theory would cost around £2.7billion, would involve drilling into the hydrothermal system at Yellowstone National Park and attempting to cool the magma. However, it won’t work, according to Professor Simon Holland.
Mr Holland is a keen science researcher who has produced documentaries for NASA funded projects including pinpointing Earth-threatening asteroids and also runs his own YouTube channel, where he likes to debate popular scientific topics, with this week’s video being dedicated to Yellowstone.
He told his 30,000 subscribers: “Turns out that Yellowstone is on an eruption cycle of about 600,000 years and the last eruption was 600,000 years ago.
“But NASA and JPL are worried about it and they’ve come up with a cunning plan to cool Yellowstone down.
“Most volcanoes are a cinder cone and when they explode lava comes out the top, runs down the sides, they tend to do a lot of damage, but they don’t devastate the planet.
Simon Holland believes NASA’s plan could be a problem (Image: GETTY)
Yellowstone volcano has the potential to create global destruction (Image: GETTY)
It might crack, causing fissures and actually cause it to explode
“Now a caldera, or supervolcano, really is different, because under the ground is a bubble and I’m talking a big bubble of molten lava.
“When this type of volcano erupts and the land falls down exposing a lake of liquid lava which is under pressure and it spurts out.”
Mr Holland, who got his “Professor” title as a nickname for his investigative research over the years, rather than professional credentials, went on to outline his problems with NASA’s plan.
He added: “There is evidence that the last time Yellowstone erupted that the ash went at least 3,000 miles to Nebraska and the amount of ash and lava and stuff that comes out goes into the atmosphere and can cause what’s known as a nuclear winter, masking the Earth from sunlight.
“So JPL and NASA are planning to spend $3.5billion on cooling Yellowstone down, but it’s a big lake molten lava.
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Simon Holland revealed all to his YouTube viewers (Image: YOUTUBE)
“They propose drilling down to the edges of the caldera, pumping cold water down and cooling down the big bubble of magma.
“Here’s the fact though – they would have to cool it down by 20 gigawatts – that’s a large number and it would take 16,000 years.”
Professor Holland went on to add his concerns that NASA’s plan could even cause a supereuption.
He continued: “Would it work? Probably not – it would be the world’s largest geothermal power station – but I don’t think it’s going to work.
“Plus this is a potential danger, by cooling down the edge, the peripheral of the caldera, it might crack, causing fissures and actually cause it to explode – not so good.
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Yellowstone last had a supereuption 640,000 years ago (Image: GETTY)
The supervolcano hides below Yellowstone National Park (Image: GETTY)
The volcano explodes about every 600,000 years, so the chances of it exploding in your lifetime are extremely low.
“If JPL, NASA and the US government decide to cool down the Yellowstone caldera, I just hope it doesn’t explode.“
Mr Holland is not alone in his worries, though.
Brian Wilcox, who was part of the original study with JLP told the BBC in 2017: “The most important thing with this [plan] is to do no harm.
“If you drill into the top of the magma chamber and try and cool it from there, this would be very risky.
Predicted ashfall of a future eruption (Image: DX)
“This could make the cap over the magma chamber more brittle and prone to fracture.
“And you might trigger the release of harmful volatile gases in the magma at the top of the chamber which would otherwise not be released.”
However, the possibility of NASA fulfilling the plan is unlikely.
A final report by JLP stated: “There are a number of unknowns about the nature of supervolcanic eruptions and how they are supplied that need to be addressed before attempting any engineered solutions, or favouring a water resource approach.
“In particular, more detailed “imaging” of the supply of melt to potentially supervolcanic systems is necessary in order to gain a better understanding of the how much heat supply varies from a steady state, experiments and models of how large magma reservoirs respond to cooling, and developing an improved understanding of the risks associated with the presence (and variable supply) of water above magma chambers.
“Given the potentially huge cost of supervolcanic eruptions on regional or even global scales, we consider these to be potentially valuable to stimulate future research.
“For any of these techniques to be applied, government intervention would almost certainly be required.
“Some supervolcanoes are in the government-managed wilderness, as is the case for Yellowstone National Park.
“Even the concept of active water resource management would require planning, legislation to prevent private activities from adversely affecting water resource, and potentially infrastructure to transport water to or from the site.”
