American scientists from NASA consider supervolcanoes a more serious threat than asteroids or the third world war, reports The Independent.
In total, there are about 20 supervolcanoes known to science on the planet, and the eruption of at least one of them could have catastrophic consequences, scientists say.
Experts see a particular danger in the Yellowstone Volcano, located in the United States in the state of Wyoming.
Yellowstone caldera
The last time the volcano erupted 640 thousand years ago. As a result, a caldera was formed - a depression measuring 55 by 72 kilometers.
According to experts, in the event of an eruption, it will expel molten rock from itself hundreds of kilometers around, burning everything within this radius. Wyoming and neighboring states will be covered with a meter layer of volcanic dust, but the destructive effect will not end there.
“The dust and gases released by the eruption will block the sun, and that will be enough to destroy crops and plunge the world into a volcanic winter that can last for decades and kill millions,” writes The Independent.
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In June, the University of Utah reported hundreds of low-magnitude earthquakes in Yellowstone National Park.
Rescue plan
Experts, meanwhile, note that this is unlikely to happen in the near future. The chances that the eruption will occur this year, experts from the US Geological Survey, estimate at one in 730 thousand.
Nevertheless, NASA is developing a plan to prevent the eruption of the Yellowstone volcano.
"The main challenge is to gradually make the Yellowstone Volcano stop being a threat to humanity," says Dr. Brian Wilcox, an aerospace engineer at NASA's rocket and rocket research center.
According to NASA's sketched plan, the team expects to "pump" heat out of the caldera and convert it into electrical energy.
This will be done by pumping water through the well to the hot rock and then returning it to the surface after the temperature near it reaches 350 degrees Celsius. It can be used to run turbines.
Despite the fact that NASA experts are not going to deal with the Yellowstone volcano in the near future, they still hope that they will pay attention to the problem.
“Making sure these volcanoes don't wipe out food supplies and kill 99 percent of the population seems worth discussing,” Wilcox said.