How much would the temperature drop if Yellowstone erupted?

Geologists believe the ash from the eruption would encircle the globe in as little as 48 hours, and make temperatures drop by a minimum of two degrees celsius for as long as 20 years. The cooling of the Earth could be catastrophic for the planet's fragile ecosystem, kicking off a chain reaction of extinctions.



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Location of past Yellowstone super-eruptions That triggered a dramatic 6- to 10-year global winter and (according to some) may have nearly wiped out the nascent human race. On average, the Earth has seen roughly one super-eruption every 100,000 years, although that's not an ironclad law.

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Temperatures in Europe could be at least 5 degrees cooler the summer after the eruption. The actual effects of a Yellowstone super-eruption could be different depending on the size of eruption, the time of year and any number of other factors.

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Yellowstone Supervolcano (Wyoming, United States) Effects of a major eruption: When the Yellowstone Caldera, or supervolcano, in Yellowstone National Park erupts again, its effects would be worldwide, the U.S. Geographical Survey said.

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A: For the most likely type of volcanic eruption in Yellowstone, everywhere would be safe except in the immediate vicinity of the advancing lava flow. In the highly improbable event of a large catastrophic eruption, the great the distance from the eruptive center, the safer it would be.

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If heat could be bled off of the magma chambers, cooling and solidifying them, not only would that (theoretically) stop the volcano from erupting, but the heat could be used to generate electric power with a geothermal energy plant.

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Loosely expanding those figures based on the park's underlying geology, they suggest that each year the entire park may emit about 44 million tons of carbon dioxide, a colorless, odorless and incombustible gas.

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Would Arizona be affected by Yellowstone? It could wipe out all life on Earth: A gigantic explosion could blanket entire states with ash and lower the temperature of the Earth. The last time this supervolcano erupted, which was hundreds of thousands of years ago, ash spread all the way to Arizona and beyond.

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