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Joe Zhang Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004 Location: United States Posts: 12857
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Posted: 20 August 2017 at 2:27am | IP Logged | 1
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"There are around 20 known supervolcanoes on Earth, with major eruptions occurring on average once every 100,000 years. One of the greatest threats an eruption may pose is thought to be starvation, with a prolonged volcanic winter potentially prohibiting civilisation from having enough food for the current population. In 2012, the United Nations estimated that food reserves worldwide would last 74 days.
When Nasa scientists came to consider the problem, they found that the most logical solution could simply be to cool a supervolcano down."
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20170817-nasas-ambitious-pla n-to-save-earth-from-a-supervolcano
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Mark McKay Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004 Location: United States Posts: 2240
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Posted: 20 August 2017 at 3:07am | IP Logged | 2
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http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20170817-nasas-ambitious-pla n-to-save-earth-from-a-supervolcano
Working link.
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Kevin Brown Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 31 May 2005 Location: United States Posts: 8841
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Posted: 20 August 2017 at 4:27am | IP Logged | 3
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Yes, I'm sure nothing will go wrong.
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Conrad Teves Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 28 January 2014 Location: United States Posts: 2175
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Posted: 20 August 2017 at 5:54am | IP Logged | 4
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Geothermal is universally safe, cost-effective, and non-polluting relative to other forms of power. I'm gonna side with NASA on this one. The plan sounds win-win.
It would be something they'd think of though. Geothermal has been of interest for use on Mars, for instance. The big shield volcanoes on the Tharsis bulge may be inactive, but it's thought the ground deep under them should still be very hot.
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Joe Zhang Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004 Location: United States Posts: 12857
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Posted: 20 August 2017 at 11:42am | IP Logged | 5
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It's a really interesting idea, but they really need to be 100% sure before doing anything. Maybe start with a smaller volcano that wouldn't usher forth the Apocalypse if an accident (or deliberate sabotage) occurred. Because when you're messing with Nature on a large scale, there will always be unintended consequences.
Edited by Joe Zhang on 20 August 2017 at 1:16pm
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Peter Martin Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 17 March 2008 Location: Canada Posts: 15797
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Posted: 21 August 2017 at 6:42pm | IP Logged | 6
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Simultaneously interesting and scary. Time to start stockpiling the tinned beans :)
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005 Posts: 132282
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Posted: 21 August 2017 at 7:54pm | IP Logged | 7
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This would take hundreds, even thousands of years? When we can't even establish policies that last more than a few decades?
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