I was thinking that too. What other disasters are just waiting on a hair-trigger?
If we don’t get wiped out, I’m going to be sorely vexed at you to say the least.
Reading up on volcano winters, Tambora, and Yellowstone, I see a really troubling statistic. The 1816 starvation year followed the ten or eleven-day-long eruption of Tambora in 1815, which ejected some 160 cubic kilometers of, well, ejecta into the atmosphere, resulting in pyroclastic deposits in Indonnesia ten feet deep. The great quantity of aerisolized sulfur blown high into the stratosphere resulted in a persistent “dry fog” over North America.
By contrast, the last big blow-up of Yellowstone ejected 1000 cubic kilometers of stuff (perhaps it occurred over a period of several weeks). Dunno about the sulfur component and whether a similar explosion would result in dry fogs over, say, Indonnesia, but I think the potential for 1000 cubic km would pose enough of a problem all by itself.
Obviously the correct solution is to turn on the Large Hadron Collider, and use it to generate a bunch of static black holes to scoop up all the ejecta before it causes any real problems.
If that doesn’t work, we can use the antimatter from the asteroid Toutatis for much the same purpose, although there’s a little bit of an energy dispersal problem to be solved in that event.
SPF 1 billion sunblocker should do the trick there. Getting it on the wildlife is left as a exercise for the reader.
IANAVolcanologist. However, I’ve had an active interest in Yellowstone for quite a while. I’ve worked there and used to know the Park Geologist years ago. One of the highlights was walking with him up to Old Faithful geyser minutes before an eruption to take water samples. As we turned away, up she went, in full glory.
But I digress.
The current earthquake swarm reminds me of the 2004 swarm at Mount St. Helens inn the weeks before its eruption. I was up at Mount St. Helens when the 2004 swarm began. The seismos were ticking at a similar rate as we currently see with Yellowstone. However, the 2004-2008 eruption sequence at Mount St. Helens was a direct result of the continuing subduction of the San Juan de Fuca plate under the North American plate. That subduction continues and, in time, will prompt future eruptions of Mount St. Helens, Mount Rainier, Mt. Hood and other Cascade Range volcanoes.
On the other hand, the Yellowstone Supervolcano is a hot spot that’s existed for several million years. The North American Plate above it continues to move above it. Just take a look at a decent geological map and it’s easy to spot the hot spot move across southern Idaho, northeast through Yellowstone and eventually beyond. (Actually the hot spot doesn’t move; it’s the North American Plate that’s moving over it.)
WAG - There is definite magma movement occurring under Yellowstone Lake right now. What remains to be seen is its extent. It could be a burp, a fart, or even a prelude to a significant belch. The Yellowstone Lake lakebed has been tilting in recent years. The last data I saw was the southern arms of the lake are growing as the bed underneath sinks relative to the northern area of the lake that’s rising. At the same time, the data was also showing the lakebed rising and falling at a rate sometimes approaching 12 inches of movement up and down daily. Almost as though the lakebed is “breathing.”
It’s also the middle of winter in Yellowstone. I’m betting there is a quiet scramble at the USGS and other agencies to somehow physically travel to the area and set up more instruments. This swarm could be a prelude to something imminent, or just another sign of things to come, tomorrow, next week or 1,000 years from now. Still, it would be great to travel to Yellowstone and visit for a spell once the Spring thaw begins. All that release ice and snow percolating down through the cracks in the earth just might “grease the skids” to greater volcanic activity. If anything, Yellowstone may really put on a geothermal show this spring and summer.
The best information is available from the USGS Yellowstone Volcano Observatory.
It was an unusually bright and sulfurous night and yet, even though the macabre visions of my countrymen being burned alive by hot, magnum lava were set far away, I still thought about them as I ate my sandwich while the television set on mute provided me quiet company away from it all.
I’d rather be vaporized at the epicenter of the blast than smothered by falling ash/boulders/mountains/etc.
Oh come on. Y’all know it isn’t going to blow until 2012.
Hey, could you knock it off with all the technical jargon?
Can’t we do something, like sacrifice a virgin?
To be fair, Sunspace’s link in post #15 suggests that this is a slight exaggeration - the average is actually a slightly longer period than 600,000 years.
My emphasis added:
Its the 21st Century, dude, virgins seem to be in rather short supply.
Maybe Wile E is trying to tell us something. Don’t be coy, now, Wile E; if you’re volunteering, step right up! 
The bulk of Yellowstone is in Wyoming. You really expect to find virgins in Wyoming (outside of Jackson Hole)?
I don’t know, I was lead to believe that in addition to all the women at Niagara Falls, Wile E and Claire Standish were riding the hobby horse.
No, not in Jack some hole.
This has to be a record for how many times I’ve been quoted in a row. I think the trick to getting such a response is to mention virgins or boobies.
Alas, that ship has sailed.
You expect to find virgins inside of Jackson Hole?
Huh?
[nevermind]
Boobies!
I’m sorry, what were we talking about?