NASA experts have developed a strategy to counteract the eruption of the Yellowstone Super Volcano. In their view, the threat can be eliminated by cooling the focus of magma in the bowels of the giant caldera. This is reported by the Tape. ru with reference to the publication ScienceAlert.

Yellowstone Super Volcano is located in the homonymous national park in the northwest of the USA. The dimensions of its caldera - the resulting wall collapse of the crater's crater - reach 55 by 72 kilometers. At a depth of eight kilometers below it is a magma bubble. The heat emanating from it warms up the geothermal springs of the national park, including geysers and hot lakes.

Giant volcanic eruptions occur about once every 700 thousand years. Over the entire history of the Earth, Yellowstone exploded three times, with each catastrophe on a scale somewhat inferior to the previous one. The probability of a new super-eruption is estimated by scientists at 0.00014 percent per year. The explosion of the caldera can not only cause great damage to the United States, but also contribute to the onset of volcanic winter and global hunger.

According to the calculations of the researchers, 60-70 percent of the heat produced by the source leaves the atmosphere through hot springs. The remaining energy accumulates in the magmatic chambers of the volcano and serves as a time bomb. To prevent the explosion, scientists plan to cool the bubble by 35 percent.

For this purpose, a specially drilled well will be injected with cold water under high pressure. Heated by volcano to 350 degrees Celsius, it will flow to the geothermal station.

Scientists in this way plan not only to avoid a catastrophe, but also to get cheap electricity. Kilowatt-hour will cost, according to estimates, $ 0.1. At the same time, the cost of infrastructure will be 3.46 billion dollars. In addition, there is a risk that drilling will provoke the release of toxic gases or even cause a super-eruption.