Press Release
April 4,
2004
A
WATCHLIST FOR
YELLOWSTONE
by Jennifer Lawson
Yellowstone’s Supervolcano could trigger
another Ice Age
Yellowstone
National Park
located in western
Wyoming
bordering
Idaho
and SW Montana, is America’s largest and most famous National Park, and the
world’s first national park.
The Park spans 2.5 million acres of forests, bubbling
hot springs
, geysers and hot mud flats with spectacular scenery and abundant wild life and
is visited by over 3 million tourists each year.
But a sleeping giant lies hidden deep beneath
Yellowstone
’s seemingly tranquil and glorious scenery: a supervolcano.
When the giant awakes it has the potential to devastate
North America
and plunge the entire world into a volcanic winter.
Supervolcanoes
look and behave differently from normal volcanoes and are way more dangerous to
the Earth’s environment. A
supervolcano presents the greatest threat to life on Earth, apart from a major
comet or asteroid strike. Ash and
dust ejected from a supervolcanic eruption is thousands of times greater than a
normal volcano, potentially blocking out sunlight for years to come and driving
the global climate into an ice age, as indicated in the geological records.
For some time scientists have known about the connection between ‘normal’
explosive-type volcanic eruptions such as Indonesia’s Krakatoa and Tambora and
global cooling due to volcanic ash clouds and dust particles being spewed into
the upper atmosphere blotting out sunlight.
Krakatoa’s violent blast in August 1883 blew the volcanic island apart,
ejecting 5 cubic miles (20.8 cubic kilometers) of ash and dust 50 miles skyward
blocking out 87 percent of the sunlight for well over a year.
The blast, considered to be the largest sound ever heard by man,
devastated everything within a 100-mile radius and generated great tsunamis up
to 120 feet high that wiped out all human habitation on the neighboring
Indonesian islands and coastal lowlands.
The Tambora eruption in April 1815 was even more powerful, ejecting 36
cubic miles (150 cubic kilometers) volcanic ash and dust high into the
stratosphere. This is considered to
be the largest ejection of volcanic material ever recorded in history.
Tambora’s eruption wiped out everything within a 200-mile radius, while the
great ash cloud blocked out the sun plunging the region into darkness for three
days. Similar to Krakatoa, great sea waves were generated by the explosion and
great earthquakes that followed. In
the following year the Northern Hemisphere experienced an unusually cold summer
due to reduction of sunlight, known as “the year without a summer”.
-The
Great International Disaster Book- James Cornell
More recently, the Mount St. Helens volcano in
Washington
state erupted on May 18, 1980 with a force equivalent to 500
Hiroshima
atomic bombs. By comparison, the
amount of volcanic ash and dust ejected into the atmosphere measured a mere .04
cubic miles (2 cubic kilometers).
Not very big on the scale of volcanic eruptions!
Although these volcanic eruptions may have been devastating and
destructive to the environment, they are hardly in the same league as a
supervolcano.
The problem with supervolcanoes is that scientists know very little about
them, how they behave, or the telltale signs leading to an eruption.
The last supervolcanic eruption occurred about 74,000 years ago.
When Tabo (now
Lake
Tabo
) exploded violently on the Indonesian
island
of
Sumatra
74,000 years ago it is estimated that 730 cubic miles (3,000 cubic kilometers)
of volcanic ash and dust was ejected into the atmosphere.
A significant drop in global temperatures followed in the wake of the
Tabo eruption, possibly accounting for a lowering of sea temperatures 9-12°F
(5-7°C) at that time.
The dust and ash cloud from Tabo was nearly two thousand times greater
than Mount St Helens, or equivalent to 912,500
Hiroshima
bombs.
Luckily
for life on Earth there are only a handful of supervolcanoes dotted around the
work, compared with relatively high numbers of normal volcanoes dotted around
the continents and in the oceans.
Supervolcanoes have entirely different structures from the typical dome or
cone-shaped mountainous peaks associated with normal volcanoes. Supervolcanoes
are more like an ‘inverted’ volcanoes formed of large depressions in the
ground under which a vast magma chamber builds up enormous pressure by trapping
volcanic gases over thousands of years. Similar
to the lid on a pressure cooker, the dome finally cracks under enormous
pressures and the volcano explodes and collapses forming an enormous crater.
These subsided craters are called calderas.
The magma chamber beneath
Yellowstone
National Park
is gigantic measuring 50 kilometers in length, 30 kilometers in width and 10
kilometers in depth and spans the entire caldera itself.
The size of
Yellowstone
’s caldera covers almost half of the park and is the largest in the world.
Yellowstone
is
the largest supervolcano in the world!
The magma chamber of Greece’s catastrophic Santorini (Thira) volcanic
explosion which occurred around 3,500 years ago inundating shorelines with great
tsunamis and wiping out the Minoan civilization, was very small in size compared
to that of Yellowstone.
There are also five major faults terminating in the molten caldera and
seismic events as far away as
Alaska
can rattle volatile
Yellowstone
.
According to scientists
Yellowstone
has a 600,000 year regularly spaced cycle of catastrophic eruptions. The first
was 2 million years ago, the second 1.2 million years and the third 640,000
years ago. Since that time there
have been roughly 30 eruptions - the last lava flow being 70,000 years ago - but
all of them have been minor.
If
Yellowstone
’s major eruption cycles of 600,000 years are consistent and any yard stick to
go by, then a major eruption is 40,000 years overdue! And a supervolcanic
eruption at
Yellowstone
could come very close to - if not equal - the magnitude of Tabo.
Were
Yellowstone to erupt in a major explosion it is estimated that every living
thing within a 600 mile radius of the supervolcano would be obliterated in the
initial blast with a deadly cloud of ash and dust directly or indirectly
affecting 20 other
US
states. Volcanic ash and fine dust
blocking out sunlight for years to
come would result in global cooling - an ice age - and universal famine!
Scientists believe that if Yellowstone is indeed awakening there should be
precursory telltale signs or some clues prior to an eruption such as larger
tremors or earthquake swarms and especially if a large bulge within the caldera
begins to rise indicating that magma is pushing up nearer and nearer to the
surface.
Yellowstone
National Park
springs to life!
A
survey measuring various elevations of the Park carried out in the 1920’s was
compared to a later survey in the 1970’s done by USGS volcanologist professor
Robert Smith who has been studying the Park for much of his life. Smith noted
changes had occurred in the caldera since the 1920’s and that the middle of
the caldera had uplifted by 2 feet 5 inches.
Further measurements indicated that the ground beneath the north of
Yellowstone also was bulging up, tilting the Park downwards inundating
shorelines trees on the southe end of
Yellowstone
Lake
.
Only
one thing could make the Earth heave this way: a vast living magma chamber. The
Yellowstone
volcano was alive. mark@planetxinbound.com
Within the past 45 years there have been two powerful quakes recorded
around
Yellowstone
. The first was a powerful 7.5
magnitude quake that struck West
Yellowstone
August 18, 1959 and the second a 6.1 magnitude tremor that shook the Caldera
Rim near Norris Geyser Basin on June 30, 1975.
Steamboat geyser located in the
Norris
Geyser
Basin
is the largest geyser in the world and historically has an eruption cycle of
four days to fifty years. Since May
2000 Steamboat has become highly active erupting five times in four years.
Highly unusual - but then as park officials will tell you, Steamboat is
“unpredictable”.
In July 2003 temperatures around
Norris
Geyser
Basin
suddenly soared to a deadly 200 degrees from the usual maximum of 80 degrees
killing trees and flora and taking on the appearance of a “dead zone.”
Animals have also been migrating out of the area.
Increased
thermal activity formed numerous new steam vents and
hot springs
around the trail leading to the back of the basin where the heat became so
intense it burned through shoes of tourists walking along the trail. The
situation had become so precarious that rangers closed down the walking track in
the
Norris
Geyser
Basin
.
The
Norris
Basin
also has a bulge some 28 miles long and 7 miles wide which has risen by as much
as five inches since 1996 and still rising.
USGS geologist Lisa Morgan, who has been studying Yellowstone for
the past five years, discovered a dome under
Yellowstone
Lake
in 1999.
Using
sonar to scan the bottom of the
lake
Morgan
found in 2003 that the dome was huge -about 2,100 foot long and 100 foot high.
In a report featured in “earthmountainview.com” last year, http://www.earthmountainview.com/yellowstone/yellowstone.htm
Morgan
said the bulge had formed only within the last few years.
“We’re
thinking this structure could be a precursor to a hydrothermal explosive event,
but we don’t think this is a volcano.”
Water temperatures in the lake which were normally around 66 degrees had
also risen to 85 degrees with dead and dying fish everywhere. Parts of the lake
have also been officially closed to the public.
Perhaps one of the most informative and alarming insights into the
escalating activity in
Yellowstone
is an interview with USGS geologist and paleobotanist Dr. Bruce Cornett
published in the Daily
Express September 10, 2003 titled “the
Monster Awakes.”
In the interview, Dr. Cornett stated “Steam pressure is apparently
building up again in
Yellowstone
, and hydrothermal fluids and steam are working their way up through fractures
and vents. If more steam vents appear, that means a continuous pathway for
pressure release has been established to the magma chamber. If that happens, the
pressure in the magma chamber will continue to drop until it reaches a critical
stage when the superheated water within the magma explodes. Unfortunately, as
the steam venting subsides, there will be a false sense of security. People will
think it was just another cyclical event, and the danger is over. But that will
be the farthest from the truth. It will be the quiet before the storm.”
http://www.earthside.com/yellowstone.html
Fears that
Yellowstone
may erupt in the not-too-distant future has dominated the internet as of late.
The public are becoming more aware and more informed of the dangers
surrounding
Yellowstone
and also more watchful of events as new ones come to light.
An escalation in the magnitudes of earthquake swarms was also observed on
January 7 this year, when
Jackson
,
Wyoming
(located 70 miles south of
Yellowstone
) was shaken by an earthquake swarm the largest of which measured magnitude 5.0.
Earthquakes
swarms and tremors are an everyday occurrence in this seismically active area of
the world, but magnitudes are usually small ranging between 2-3, with a
magnitude 4 occurring every other year.
An earthquake swarm of magnitude 5.0 is considered above normal for the
area.
On March 21 this year the biggest disaster drill ever undertaken was held
in
Yellowstone
County
involving hundreds of emergency responders, law enforcement officers and
medical workers. The disaster drill began with a ‘simulated gas release’
under the guise of a terrorist attack. Mitch
Battros http://www.earthchangestv.com
A disaster drill, the largest ever, involving a ‘simulated gas
release,’ is really very telling! In
my opinion the disaster drill was a preparation for a possible volcanic eruption
in
Yellowstone
, as volcanic eruptions release deadly volcanic gases and choking ash clouds.
Yellowstone
potentially presents a far greater threat to life and the environment than a
terrorist attack.
Several days following the disaster drill a friend forwarded an email dated
March 23, 2004 to me from Jim McCanney http://www.jmccanneyscience.com
in
which Jim stated he had received unconfirmed reports from reliable sources that
the volcanic bubble under
Yellowstone
’s basin had raised over 100 feet in the space of 24 hours possibly indicating
it is ready to blow.
Furthermore,
that an announcement to this effect would be made public via one of the major TV
networks later that evening.
That evening, CBS News correspondent Sandra Hughes issued a report on
Yellowstone
but said nothing at all about the latest discovery.
Referring
instead to the original discovery of a bulge under
Yellowstone
Lake
found by USGS scientist Lisa Morgan.
Quote:
“Using
sonar she’s (Morgan) identified a massive bulging dome the size of seven
football fields. The only other underwater dome in
Yellowstone
was the site of a major explosion.” “The most extreme event, which occurred
13,800 years ago went about as far as five miles away from the source,” said
Morgan
Morgan still does not think the dome is gearing up for an explosion.
And I
hope she’s right!
But
are we being lulled into a false sense of security when we know for sure that no
scientist on Earth has ever witnessed a supervolcanic eruption before and do not
have the experience to know how high
Yellowstone
’s dome has to rise before finally exploding?
Chances are that an impending eruption, if indeed we do have one at all,
may well turn out to be minor and no cause for alarm at all.
Neverthelesss
it is far better to be prepared for something that may not happen than not to be
prepared for something that will.
A chilling warning from The Pentagon
Another
chilling warning issued from The Pentagon earlier this year about global warming
pushing the climate to a tipping point and abrupt climate change, makes one
wonder if it is Yellowstone that authorities really have their eyes set on.
Excerpts from The Pentagon’s weather nightmare and global cooling set
out below, could just as easily describe the scenario of a volcanic winter. In
fact, the only thing on Earth that could flip the climatic scales overnight is a
catastrophic supervolcanic eruption.
The Pentagon report warns that global cooling in the Northern Hemisphere
would lead to longer, harsher winters, massive droughts and famine. Countries
such as
USA
and
Europe
would become ‘virtual fortresses’, preventing millions of migrants escaping
from countries devastated by rising sea-levels or no longer able to grow crops.
Dramatic climate change would put 400 million people in subtropical
regions at grave risk.
Proliferation of nuclear arms is inevitable as future wars will be fought
over the issue of survival rather than religion, ideology or national honor.
Access to water becomes a major battle ground as mega-droughts affect the
world’s major breadbaskets including
America
’s
Midwest
. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5732.htm
If the Pentagon is issuing dire warnings about climatic change in the
not-too-distant future, then what sort of contingency plan does the USA have in
mind and what sort of preparations are being made?
In other words what is the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
doing about it?
FEMA’s emergency plans
In
2002 the
US
government granted the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) $300 million
instead of its’ normal annual budget of $10 million. According to FEMA, this
staggering amount of money was to establish make-shift cities across the
USA
ready to house millions of Americans in case of terrorist
attacks.
FEMA is also in charge of the REX 84 program where 600 new prisons have
been established throughout the
USA
. These prisons, built by the REX 84 program and managed by FEMA, are fully
staffed and surrounded by full-time guards ready and waiting should a mass
exodus of illegal aliens cross the Mexican/US border. The largest facility,
formerly a massive mental health facility located near
Fairbanks
,
Alaska
, can house 2 million people.
[Editor's
note: See: http://www.greatdreams.com/concentration.htm
]
A
mass exodus of illegal Mexicans into the
USA
, could only occur if there was such a state of chaos within the
USA
that the national borders were not secure or able to be properly controlled.
Such a calamity could only come about if a natural disaster of
catastrophic proportions occurred resulting in anarchy and lawlessness as the
starving masses fought to survive.
A
catastrophic disaster of monumental proportions such as
Yellowstone
!
A 2004-2006 Watchlist for
Yellowstone
For
those of you who are not familiar with my work I am a long-range weather
forecaster primarily specializing in the prediction of hurricanes and severe
weather. The system I use is based on the principles of Astrometeorology that
seeks to forecast weather based on the angular relationships between the Sun,
Moon and planets. This system not only works for predicting weather patterns and
hurricanes but also works for predicting earthquakes and heightened volcanic
activity.
Major
quakes and outbreaks of violent weather world wide often go hand in hand
occurring simultaneously, or within days of each other. These two types of
events are related because the planetary configurations ‘trigger’ both.
The
solar system and star field beyond it is just one vast electromagnetic machine
and everything around us is interconnected, interrelated and interdependent.
The
planets in our solar system affect the Earth both directly and indirectly via
the Sun through sunspot activity and ensuing solar flares.
Coronal
mass ejections from the Sun disrupt the Earth’s magnetic field causing
powerful geomagnetic storms across the planet, disturbing the molten interior of
Earth and tectonic plate movement and triggering earthquakes and volcanic
eruptions.
Several years ago I published a book called “Violent Weather Predictions
2000-2001” predicting violent weather events worldwide which also included
dates for earthquakes and heightened volcanic activity or possible volcanic
eruptions throughout the world.
One specific prediction in the book relates to
Yellowstone
National Park
stating ‘powerful seismic activity for
Yellowstone
National Park
between March 16-April 22, 2000.’ Nothing happened during that time frame,
but ten days later on May 2, 2000 Yellowstone’s Steamboat Geyser erupted for
the first time since Oct 2, 1991 sending a plume of water vapor well over 300
feet high.
It took ten days longer than forecasted for
Yellowstone
to be activated.
The combined effects of the Sun, Moon and planets on Earth’s atmospheric
conditions or weather patterns is fast- usually within several days. Whereas the
same influences which also disturb the Earth’s molten interior placing
stresses on tectonic plates and ‘triggering’ quakes and volcanic activity
along faults and plate boundaries, is much slower and may take several weeks to
react.
Earthquake and volcanic predictions in the book achieved a high degree
of accuracy including volcanic tremors or eruptions for Mount Etna,
Stromboli, White Island, Soputan, Merapi, Manam, Anuk Krakatoa, Lokon Empung,
Usu, Mount Oyama, Popocateptyl and Soufriere Hills.
Having had a degree of success in predicting volcanic eruptions in the
past, I am convinced it is possible to predict when geothermal activity or
quakes are likely to occur in
Yellowstone
, although I am not so sure whether it is at all possible to predict a
supervolcanic eruption.
Predicting
when a volcano is likely to blow during an eruptive cycle is easier because the
volcano is already active, but a sleeping giant-or an awakening supervolcano is
a different prospect altogether.
How
long does it take before a supervolcano fully awakens? How high does the dome
rise before exploding? The truth is nobody knows and
Yellowstone
’s supervolcano may not erupt for hundreds of years yet.
None-the-less and because seismic activity appears to be accelerating in
Yellowstone National Park I have decided to draw up two “watchlists” of
dates in 2004-2006 in an attempt to ‘monitor’ the area for geothermal
events, volcanic tremors and earthquakes.
The
likelihood of a volcanic eruption in
Yellowstone
will very much depend on (a) a further uplift of the dome at the bottom of the
lake or bulges elsewhere (b) more frequency in larger quakes or larger
earthquake swarms, indicating that the magma chamber is pushing closer to the
surface.
The first and most important “Red Alert”watchlist is
for time periods when seismic activity is anticipated to be far stronger than
normal.
The second list is for minor to
moderate seismic activity not considered to be as powerful as the Red Alert
list.
Overview for Yellowstone 2004-2006
From 2004 to 2006 there are several dates when
Yellowstone will need close monitoring. This is because of powerful planetary
configurations that will be directly affecting this region of the world during
these times.
Heading the watchlist of “critical” time periods
when powerful geothermal activity, larger quakes, or further uplift in the dome
under
Yellowstone
lake is more likely, will be:-
(a)
December 2005 through January 2006
(b)
March 3-10, 2005
(c)
August 2004 through September 2004
A severe, bitter winter is also likely
to target the Northern Hemisphere including the
USA-
especially the Northeast and
Midwest
from December 2005-January 2006. During this time period dates predicted for
seismic activity for
Yellowstone
could also experience severe weather for that region as well.
Some
of the following dates could also trigger quakes on the West Coast from
Washington
to
California
.
Yellowstone
and surrounding States
Seismic
Watchlists 2004-2006
RED ALERT
LIST
2004
August
2-12, 16-31
September
10-October 6
2005
March 3-13, 16-20
August 23-28
November
29-December 4
*December
10-31
2006
January
1-10, 13-26
August
9-13
*Seismic activity is likely to increase significantly throughout December
2005 and January 2006. Watch the first few weeks in December for seismic
activity around the borders of Yellowstone/Idaho and
Montana
.
Seismic
activity should begin to intensify from December 11-20,
especially
from December 25-31 and well into January when a major event i.e. a powerful
quake or eruption of Steamboat Geyser, could take place at
Yellowstone
.
MINOR TO
MODERATE LIST.
Some of the
following dates may also be weather-related.
2004
April 19-27
May
21-28
July 5-15
November 3-11
2005
January
21-28
April 1-8
May
15-23
August 2-6, 11-18
October
17-25
November
1-4, 14-25
2006
April
4-10
May
4-7, 11-14
July
6-10
September
4-9
October 17-25
November
5-14
Author’s
note:
Major
seismic activity may take longer to be activated than anticipated, and could
occur several weeks following a predicted time period.
########
[Editors
note:
SEE
THE ACTUAL EVENTS HERE: http://www.earthmountainview.com/yellowstone/yellowstone.htm
]