
An injection of magma under Norris Geyser Basin - LinuxBender
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/03/chunk-yellowstone-size-chicago-has-been-pulsing/
======
jpm_sd
"For more than two decades, an area larger than Chicago centered near the
basin has been inflating and deflating by several inches in erratic bursts. In
a hyperactive volcanic region like Yellowstone, the exact causes of any
specific movement are difficult to pin down."

[...]

"To be clear, the new research does not indicate that the supervolcano that
created Yellowstone’s caldera—which last erupted 640,000 years ago—is any more
likely to erupt now."

~~~
gypsy_boots
Thank you for this. The headline of the article certainly seems to be taking
advantage of the recent hysteria around everything else happening in our lives
right now (covid-19)

~~~
pesfandiar
Headlines of previously respectful media have always been inching towards more
drama, shock and FUD in general, so I don't think it's specific to the current
mass hysteria. I'd bet COVID-19 has been a boon to all media though.

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Mikeb85
2020 is already shit, of course it's going to erupt, block out the sun and
cause a nuclear winter. Why the hell not?

~~~
me_me_me
Is there any guide or plan how to rebuild from such a catastrophe?

Even brief nuclear winter would cause billion of deaths from starvation (and
chaos caused by collapsing economy).

I just wonder if we have a plan B to rebuild stuff (relatively) quickly or
humans will be thrown into preindustrial world condemned to reinvent
everything again?

~~~
parsimo2010
Plans A-Z call for us avoiding all nuclear winters and impacts from large
asteroids. We don’t and won’t ever have a way to quickly rebuild after
extinction level events. It will affect multiple generations in the best case.

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rbanffy
I wonder how much of the US's energy needs could be extracted from geothermal
sources around the caldera.

~~~
Kye
It's possibly unwise to go poking holes in a supervolcano.

~~~
rbanffy
If one could remove _a lot_ of the heat and convert it to electricity, it
wouldn't be so super.

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hindsightbias
"In May 1980, a strong earthquake swarm that included four Richter magnitude 6
earthquakes struck the southern margin of the Long Valley Caldera. It was
associated with a 10-inch (250 mm) dome-shaped uplift of the caldera floor"

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Valley_Caldera](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Valley_Caldera)

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neonate
[https://archive.md/fm9ep](https://archive.md/fm9ep)

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angel_j
I wonder what the pulses might indicate elsewhere (like water temperatures in
the gulf or s/t)

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echelon
If this theoretically erupted, what would the impact be? Extinction level?

~~~
atwebb
Bill Bryson's book A Short History of Nearly Everything does a good job of
describing it, I'd butcher a paraphrasing. Essentially, feet of ash covering
hundreds to thousands of miles.

It also highlights that this is been going on and areas bulge constantly.

~~~
sytelus
Even better: [https://www.amazon.com/Supervolcano-Catastrophic-Changed-
Cou...](https://www.amazon.com/Supervolcano-Catastrophic-Changed-Course-
History-ebook/)

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aj7
If this blows, a billion people could die. And I suspect it’s more likely than
an asteroid hit.

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Donwangugi
2020 no joke yo

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lainga
I am calling on everyone reading this, to turn in the direction of Yellowstone
(rhumb and great-circle bearings both acceptable), and channel your chi into
the mantra "NOT NOW"

ed: although, yes, the danger of eruption is not heightened now.

~~~
matthoiland
The season finale of 2020 sounds terrifying.

~~~
dumbfoundded
There's a close pass of a 4km asteroid happening in April. It should miss us.

[https://www.space.com/asteroid-1998-or2-earth-flyby-
april-20...](https://www.space.com/asteroid-1998-or2-earth-flyby-
april-2020.html)

~~~
Dunedan
Please stop spreading FUD. That's not even close to a close pass. From the
linked article:

> At its closest approach, which will happen at about 5:56 a.m. EDT (0956
> GMT), asteroid 1998 OR2 will be 3.9 million miles (6.3 million km) from
> Earth. That's more than 16 times the average distance between Earth and the
> moon.

~~~
dmitripopov
At a space scale it's a close pass.

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jessehorne
Well I enjoyed the title. The site asked for my email to continue reading so
that's about as far as I got.

~~~
jballer
I usually go with @example.com or @contoso.com

~~~
_jal
I usually go with something like
"popups@annoy.me.and.are.useless.for.you.xxx".

~~~
jessehorne
I feel bad for whoever owns that email. They're getting all the spam!

~~~
_jal
If someone lists an MX for 'annoy.me.and.are.useless.for.you.xxx', I'd
personally be really curious as to why.

(I did just look, `dig any you.xxx` returns NOTIMP, probably a reserved name.)

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thisistheend123
Has Murphy's Law chosen 2020 to play itself out.

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murphy%27s_law](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murphy%27s_law)

~~~
JJMcJ
Robert Heinlein had a story The Year Of the Jackpot, about exactly this.

Ends with the Sun going nova.

~~~
gumby
It was the first science fiction story I ever read, and I was 11. I still
remember the opening line. "At first Potiphar Breen did not notice the girl
who was undressing."

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Havoc
At this rate I might need to change my stance on the biblical writings about
the apocalypse & 4 horsemen.

~~~
hodgesrm
"When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?"

Given there's no discernable HN requirement to remain on topic (ever) the
origin of this quote makes interesting reading.

[https://quoteinvestigator.com/2011/07/22/keynes-change-
mind/](https://quoteinvestigator.com/2011/07/22/keynes-change-mind/)

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arcticbull
Good, I was just saying Q1 2020 has been pretty boring so...

~~~
DoreenMichele
Only because you aren't used to being housebound.

I, on the other hand, have been having a better than usual time, now that the
rest of humanity is finally as concerned with germ control as I have been for
nearly two decades.

