What is happening to Yellowstone's air quality?

[montana500]

http://wilderness-sportsman.com/wsblog/

"A new Park Service study shows air quality in four of six categories is worsening at Yellowstone National Park. The study compiled air-quality trends dating back to 1995 at national parks across the country. One pollutant on the rise in Yellowstone is ground-level ozone, which can cause respiratory problems and threaten plant health."



It looks like several air quality trends are headed south for Yellowstone national park. Even scarier is the fact that there doesn't seem to be a firm grasp as to why.

[dipsydoodle]

1. Given that Yellowstone Park is sitting

on one of the world's largest super volanoes then maybe it's time to keep your fingers crossed.

[montana500]

2. I thought about that when I was there last summer.

It's a pretty frightening thought to know you are walking around on some giant volcano.

[dipsydoodle]

6. Wouldn't worry about it too much.

They do say never worry about anything over which you not have complete control.

By all accounts if it blew we'd all only last for about a year or so. The earth, as may well have happened before , would simply have to start afresh ,some years down the line , after the ice age it could precipitate following the years of constant winter which would follow the eruption.

Global dimming would more than offset current global warming. :)

[FloridaPat]

3. The magma is moving up. The water everywhere in Yellowstone

is getting hotter. They are worried about a major volcanic eruption.

[megatherium]

4. I remember thinking how smoky Yellowstone was, in 1988,

when I visited the park that summer. It was hot and dry, and there were smoke plumes from distant forest fires. Didn't think too much about it. Just a few weeks later I was back home watching in horror as much of the park burned. Supposedly this happens every several hundred years, but it was that same summer that James Hansen started to say that evidence was that global warming (human-caused) was already happening.

I wonder if the current pollution problems are coming in from Alberta, from the tar sands operations. Do those produce much air pollution? (Evidently, they do produce a lot of ground and water pollution, if the thread about that today is right.)

[XemaSab]

5. Isn't ground level ozone caused by incomplete combustion?

n/t

[lonecentrist]

7. Yes its one cause

The Yellowstone Super Volcano has on average erupted every 550,000 years. It sits on a hot spot in the Earths mantle. The last major eruption there was about 550,000 years ago making us primed for an eruption in the near future. When I say near future I mean geologic, but its probably safe to say that in 20,000 years or less she will blow. When she does the damage would be complete within 300 miles of the caldera. Outside of that the ash cloud will obscure the sun for months and lower the global temperatures considerably. This ash itself is very dangerous even in small quantities as it chokes the lungs leading to painful death. The lava dome under Yellowstone Lake is over 150' high and has grown 50' of that in the last few years. It wasn't discovered until 30 or so years ago. This eruption is unlike any we have ever witnessed. It would be like a thin film of ice melting on the great lakes and letting out all its contents in a matter of days. I wouldn't worry too much though. Scientists have speculated using rocks from past eruptions that the magma chamber needs to have a certain % of melt to reach critical levels. We are about 80% there so don't change your vacation plans to Yellowstone. Its one of the Wonders of the World and shouldn't be missed.

[Strong Atheist]

8. Welcome to D.U.!

:toast: